LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 
ROBERT  WESSON 


Cconomtc 


THE   CAUSE   AND    EXTENT  OF   THE    RECENT  INDUS- 
TRIAL PROGRESS  OF  GERMANY.    By  Earl  D.  Howard. 

THE   CAUSES  OF  THE  PANIC  OF  1893.     By  William  J. 
Lauck. 

INDUSTRIAL    EDUCATION.     By  Harlow  Stafford  Person, 
Ph.D. 

FEDERAL  REGULATION    OF   RAILWAY  RATES.     By  Al- 
bert N.  Merritt,  Ph.D. 

SHIP  SUBSIDIES.   An  Economic  Study  of  the  Policy  of  Sub- 
sidizing Merchant  Marines.     By  Walter  T.  Dunmore. 

SOCIALISM:  A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS.     By  O.  D.  Skelton. 

INDUSTRIAL  ACCIDENTS  AND  THEIR  COMPENSATION. 
By  Gilbert  L.  Campbell,  B.  S. 

THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  AMONG  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
PEOPLE  OF   AMERICA.     By  Frank  H.  Streightoff. 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


&  Qtlatx     ri}*  600^0 


VIII 

THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  AMONG  THE 
INDUSTRIAL  PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

AMONG  THE  INDUSTRIAL 

PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA 


BY 

FRANK  HATCH  STREIGHTOFF 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

<3C&e  SUtetjJitte  prcsg  Cambridge 

1911 


COPYRIGHT,   IQII,   BY   HART,   SCHAFFKER   *   MARX 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  March  IQII 


To  Professor  Willard  C.  Fisher  of  Wesleyan  University  the 
writer  is  indebted  for  invaluable  aid  in  the  preparation  of  this 
essay. 


PEEFACE 

THIS  series  of  books  owes  its  existence  to  the  generosity  of 
Messrs.  Hart,  Schaffner,  and  Marx  of  Chicago,  who  have 
shown  a  special  interest  in  trying  to  draw  the  attention  of 
American  youth  to  the  study  of  economic  and  commercial 
subjects,  and  to  encourage  the  best  thinking  of  the  country 
to  investigate  the  problems  which  vitally  affect  the  busi- 
ness world  of  to-day.  For  this  purpose  they  have  dele- 
gated to  the  undersigned  Committee  the  task  of  selecting 
or  approving  of  topics,  making  all  announcements,  and 
awarding  prizes  annually  for  those  who  wish  to  compete. 

For  the  year  ending  June  1,  1909,  there  were  offered:  — 

In  Class  A,  which  included  any  American  without  re- 
striction, a  First  Prize  of  Six  Hundred  Dollars  and  a  Second 
Prize  of  Four  Hundred  Dollars; 

In  Class  B,  which  included  only  those  who  were  at  the 
time  undergraduates  of  any  American  college,  a  First  Prize 
of  Three  Hundred  Dollars  and  a  Second  Prize  of  Two 
Hundred  Dollars; 

In  Class  C,  which  included  any  who  had  not  had  aca- 
demic training,  a  First  Prize  of  Five  Hundred  Dollars. 

Any  essay  submitted  in  Class  B  or  Class  C,  if  deemed 
of  sufficient  merit,  could  receive  a  prize  in  Class  A. 


viii  PREFACE 

The  present  volume,  submitted  in  Class  B,  was  deemed 
of  sufficient  merit  for  consideration  in  Class  A,  and  was 
awarded  the  First  Prize  in  that  class. 

J.  LAURENCE  LAUGHLIN,  Chairman, 

University  of  Chicago. 
J.  B.  CLARK, 

Columbia  University. 
HENRY  C.  ADAMS, 

University  of  Michigan. 
HORACE  WHITE, 

New  York  City. 
EDWIN  F.  GAT, 

Harvard  University. 


CONTENTS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY xv 

CHAPTER  I.  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

a.  Definition 2 

6.  Inclusion  of  wants  as  well  as  of  satisfactions  in  the 

ideal  standard 3 

c.  Determinants  of  the  standard  of  living       ....  3 

1.  Class 3 

2.  Income 4 

3.  Progress  of  civilization 4 

d.  High  vs.  low  standards  of  living 5 

e.  Content  of  the  normal  standard  of  living   ....  5 
/.  The   money  equivalent   of  a  normal  standard  of 

living .  6 

g.  Significance  of  the  standard  of  living      .    .    »    .    .  7 

CHAPTER  II.  FAMILY  EXPENDITURES 

a.  The  object  of  studying  family  budgets 9 

b.  Recent  studies  of  family  budgets 9 

1.  Mrs.  More 9 

2.  Bureau  of  Labor,  1901 10 

3.  Chapin,  1907 11 

c.  Distribution  of  expenditures 12 

1.  Engel 12 

2.  Massachusetts,  1885  and  1901 13 

3.  The  three  recent  studies 14 

4.  Modification  of  Engel's  law 20 

5.  Relation  of  number  of  children  to  distribution  of 

expenditures 22 

d.  Insufficiency  of  incomes 24 

e.  Summary 26 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III.  UNEMPLOYMENT 

a.  Extent  in  years  of  panic 29 

b.  Persistence  of  unemployment 30 

c.  General  data 34 

1.  Eighteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States 

Commissioner  of  Labor 34 

2.  Census ^35 

d.  Causes  of  unemployment 36 

1.  Impersonal 36 

(a)  Reserve  force  of  labor 36 

(6)  Seasonal  fluctuations 37 

(c)  Skill  or  lack  of  skill 40 

2.  Personal 42 

e.  Effects  of  unemployment 42 

CHAPTER  IV.  INCOMES 

a.  The  theory  of  wages 44 

b.  The  wage-earners 50 

1.  Child  labor 52 

2.  Labor  of  women 52 

3.  Men 58 

c.  Earnings  of  men 59 

1.  Railroads 60 

2.  Coal-mines 61 

3.  Garment  trades        62 

4.  New  York  organized  trades 62 

5.  Immigrants 63 

6.  Textiles 63 

7.  Wage  groups 64 

8.  Estimate  of  men  receiving  under  $600  per  year  65 

d.  Family  income 67 

CHAPTER  V.  HOUSING 

«.  Importance  of  good  housing 69 

b.  The  tenement  house 70 

1.  In  New  York  City 70 


CONTENTS  ri 

(a)  Rents 71 

(6)  Sanitation 71 

(c)  Moral  influences 72 

(d)  Present  status 73 

2.  In  other  cities 73 

c.  The  housing  problems  of  other  cities 74 

1.  Chicago 74 

2.  Other  large  cities 75 

3.  Pittsburg 75 

d.  Housing  in  small  communities 77 

e.  The  boarder  and  the  lodger 78 

/.  Home  tenure 79 

g.  Effects  of  bad  housing 81 

1.  Health 81 

2.  Use  of  intoxicants 82 

3.  Psychological  effects 83 

(a)  Home  tenure 83 

(6)  Boarding  and  lodging 84 

k.  Summary 84 

CHAPTER  VI.   FOOD 

a.  Functions  of  food 86 

b.  Measurement  of  nutritive  value  of  diet 87 

1.  Importance  of  preparation 88 

c.  Expenditures  for  food  by  American  families    ...  89 

d.  Some  dietaries 91 

1.  Coal  communities 91 

2.  Pittsburg  factory  people 91 

3.  Southern  textile  workers 92 

4.  The  importance  of  bread  to  the  poor  ....  93 

5.  Chicago  Italians 94 

e.  Dietary  computations 95 

1.  New  York  City 95 

2.  Bureau  of  Labor  results 96 

3.  Insufficiency  of  this  diet 98 

/.  Criticisms  of  American  dietaries 98 


xii  CONTENTS 

1.  Tea .99 

2.  Sweets 100 

3.  Economies 100 

4.  Opinion  of  Professor  Atwater 101 

g.  Effects  of  faulty  nutrition 101 

h.  Summary 102 

CHAPTER  VII.  CLOTHING 

a.  Functions  of  clothes 108 

b.  Customs  in  clothing 104 

c.  Cost  of  clothing 105 

1.  Minimum  cost 106 

d.  Effects  of  faulty  clothing 107 

1.  Criticism 107 

e.  Summary 109 

CHAPTER  VIII.  THRIFT 

a.  Practical  difficulties  of  saving 110 

1.  Disposition  of  surplus Ill 

6.  Savings  banks 113 

1.  Statistics  and  theory  of  saving 114 

2.  The  character  of  savings  banks 114 

c.  Building  and  loan  associations 115 

d.  Industrial  insurance 116 

1.  Character  and  advantages 118 

2.  Evils  of  industrial  insurance 119 

(a)  High  cost 119 

(6)  Moral  evils 119 

e.  Summary 120 

CHAPTER  IX.   HEALTH 

a.  Summary  of  the  conditions  of  life  of  the  industrial 

people  detrimental  to  health 121 

b.  Large  role  of  disease  in  life 122 

c.  Hours  of  labor 123 

1.  Possibility  of  a  shorter  day _.  124 


CONTENTS  xiii 

d.  Shortening  of  trade  life 125 

e.  Accidents 127 

/.  Disease 129 

1.  Women  sufferers 130 

2.  Venereal   diseases 131 

3.  Children 132 

4.  Influence  of  occupations 134 

g.  Summary 134 

CHAPTER  X.   INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE 

a.  Sensuality 137 

6.  Home  life 138 

1.  Routine  of  women 139 

2.  Importance  of  woman 140 

c.  The  spirit  of  charity 140 

d.  Conversation 141 

e.  Amusements 141 

1.  Dancing 142 

2.  Theatres 143 

3.  Other  amusements 143 

4.  The  saloon 144 

(a)  Extent  and  cost  of  the  use  of  intoxicants  144 

(6)  Part  in  social  life 146 

(c)  Evil  effects 147 

/.  Education 148 

g.  Miscellaneous  phases  of  thought 148 

h.  Views  on  the  labor  problem 149 

i.  The  church  and  the  masses 150 

j.  Summary 152 

CHAPTER  XI.  THE  LIVING  WAGE 

a.  Commercial  position  of  the  poor  —  losses   ....  154 

1.  Rents 155 

2.  Marketing 155 

3.  Installment  buying 157 

4.  Borrowing 158 


xiv  CONTENTS 

6.  The  living  wage 159 

1.  Definition 159 

2.  Estimate 161 

CHAPTER  XII.   POSSIBILITIES 

a.  Summary  of  presentation  of  facts 163 

6.  Unemployment 164 

1.  Public  works 164 

2.  Factory  and  compensation  laws 165 

3.  Free  public  employment  bureaus 165 

c.  Wages 166 

1.  Unionism 166 

2.  Restriction  of  immigration 166 

3.  Minimum  wage  boards 167 

d.  Housing 167 

1.  Private  reform 168 

2.  Legal  measures 169 

3.  Boarders  and  lodgers 170 

e.  Food 171 

/.  Thrift 172 

g.  Health 172 

1.  Welfare  work 173 

2.  Medical  inspection  in  the  schools 173 

3.  Shorter  hours  of  labor 173 

h.  Education  for  efficiency 174 

t.  Summary  and  conclusion 178 

APPENDIX 181 

INDEX  .  189 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.  BOOKS  ON  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

The  Cost  of  Living  and  Retail  Prices  of  Food.  Eighteenth 
Annual  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor. 
1903. 

The  best  general  work  on  the  subject. 
The  Standard  of  Life.   Mrs.  Bernard  Bosanquet.   Macmillan  & 

Co.,  London,  1899. 

The  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City.  Robert  Coit  Chapin. 
Charities  Publication  Committee,  New  York,  1909. 

The  most  recent  and  thorough  work,  confined  to  New  York 

City. 

Family  Monographs,  the  History  of  Twenty-four  Families  Living 
in  the  Middle  Westside  of  New  York  City.  Elsa  G.  Herzfeld. 
The  James  Kempster  Printing  Co.,  New  York,  1905. 

Excellent,  especially  for  the  mental  life. 

Wage-Earners'  Budgets.  Louise  Bolard  More  (Mrs.).  Henry 
Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 

Very  good,  two  hundred  New  York  families  intensively 
studied. 

II.  BOOKS  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEALTH 

Our  Irrational  Distribution  of  Wealth.    Byron  C.  Mathews. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1908. 
Riches  and  Poverty.     Leone  George    Chiozza-Money,  M.  P. 

Methuen  &  Co.,  London,  1905. 
The  Present  Distribution  of  Wealth  in  the  United  States.  Charles 

B.  Spahr.  Thos.  Y.  Crowell  &  Co.,  New  York,  1896. 
An  estimate. 

HI.  BOOKS  ON  HOUSING 

The  Tenement  House  Problem.  R.  W.  De  Forest  and  Lawrence 
Veiller,  ed.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1903. 
The  best  and  most  complete  work  in  the  field. 


rvi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Eighth  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor.  E.  R.  L. 
Gould. 

A  most  thorough  and  extensive  work. 

IV.  WORKS  ON  FOOD 

Methods  and  Results  of  Investigations  on  the  Chemistry  and 
Economy  of  Food.  Wilbur  O.  Atwater.  Bulletin  no.  21, 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  1895. 

Foods;  Nutritive  Value  and  Cost.   Farmers'  Bulletin,  no.  23. 

Principles  of  Nutrition  and  Nutritive  Value  of  Food.    W.  O. 
Atwater.    Farmers'   Bulletin  no.  142.    U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture,  1902. 
Excellent. 

The  Cost  of  Food.  Ellen  H.  Richards  (Mrs.).  J.  Wiley  &  Sons, 
New  York,  1901. 

The  Cost  of  Living.  Ellen  H.  Richards  (Mrs.). 

Both  contain  valuable  practicable  advice  on  diet. 

V.  BOOKS  ON  EMPLOYMENT 

The  Unemployed.  Geoffery  Drage.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York, 

1894. 
Eight  Hours  for  Work.  John  Rae.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  London, 

1894. 

VI.  BOOKS  ON  THRIFT 

The  Development  of  Thrift.  Mary  Wilcox  Brown.  Macmillan 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1899. 

Narrative  rather  than  critical. 

Savings  and  Savings  Institutions.  James  Henry  Hamilton. 
Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1902. 

Excellent. 
The    Business    of    Insurance.     Alexander    Johnstone    Wilson. 

Methuen  &  Co.,  London,  1904. 

Testimony  Taken  by  the  Legislative  Insurance  Investigation 
,    Committee.  New  York  State,  1905. 

VII.  BOOKS  ON  SOCIAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Fundamentals  of  Child  Study.  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick.  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1908. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xvii 

Youth,  Its  Education,  Regimen  and  Hygiene.  G.  Stanley  Hall. 

Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1907. 
Social   Psychology.    Edward   Alsworth    Ross.    Macmillan  Co., 

New  York,  1908. 

A  unique  and  valuable  work. 
Outlines  of  Social  Psychology.   Josiah  Royce.   Macmillan  Co., 

New  York,  1903. 

Vlll.  THE  LIQUOR  PROBLEM 

Economic  Aspects  of  the  Liquor  Problem.    Twelfth  Annual 

Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor.    1897- 

1898. 
Substitutes  for  the  Saloon.  Raymond  Calkins,  for  the  Committee 

of  Fifty.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  New  York,  1901. 

Thorough  and  suggestive. 
Economic  Aspects  of  the  Liquor  Problem.   John  Koren  for  the 

Committee  of  Fifty.    Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  New  York, 

1899. 

Excellent. 
The  Economics  of  Prohibition.    James  C.  Fernald.    Funk  & 

Wagnalls,  New  York  City,  1890. 
The  Social  Evil.  Prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee 

of  Fifteen.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  New  York,  1902. 

IX.  WORKS  ON  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

Labor  Problems.  Thomas  Sewall  Adams  and  Helen  L.  Sumner. 

Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1905. 
Letters  from  a  Workingman.   Anonymous.   Revell,  New  York, 

1908. 
The  Long  Day.  The  story  of  a  New  York  working  girl  as  told  by 

herself.   Century  Co.,  New  York,  1905. 
Getting  A  Living.  George  L.  Bolen.  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 

1903. 
The  Social  Unrest.   John  Graham  Brooks.   Grosset  &  Dunlap, 

New  York,  1903, 
The  Industrial  Army.   F.  S.  Giles.   Baker  &  Taylor  Co.,  New 

York,  1896. 
Hull-House  Maps  and  Papers.    By  Residents  of  Hull-House. 

Thos.  Y.  Crowell  &  Co.,  New  York,  1895. 


xviii"  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Poverty.  Robert  Hunter.  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 
Industrial  America.    J.  Laurence  Laughlin.    Chas.  Scribners' 

Sons,  New  York,  1906. 
Organized  Labor.    John  Mitchell.    American  Book  and  Bible 

House.  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1903. 
Modern  Man  and  his  Fellow  Men.  Henry  C.  Potter.   Geo.  W. 

Jacobs  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1903. 
Anthracite  Coal  Communities.    Peter  Roberts.    Macmillan  Co., 

New  York,  1904. 

An  excellent  study  of  the  Coal  Communities. 
A  Living  Wage.  John  A.  Ryan.  Grosset  &  Dunlap,  New  York, 

1906. 

A  strong  plea  for  the  living  wage. 

Higher  Life  for  the  Working  People.    W.  W.  Stephens.    Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  London,  1899. 
The  Woman  Who  Toils,  Being  the  Experiences  of  Two  Ladies  as 

Factory  Girls.    Mrs.  John  Van  Vorst  and   Miss  Marie  Van 

Vorst.  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  New  York,  1903. 

A  sympathetic  study  of  the  working  girls. 
Industrial  Democracy.    Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb.  Longmans, 

Green  and  Co.,  New  York  and  London,  1897. 

The  best  book  ever  written  on  trades  unions. 
The  City  Wilderness.  Robert  A.  Woods,  ed.  Houghton,  Mifflin 

&  Co.,  Cambridge,  1899. 

X.  MISCELLANEOUS  BOOKS 

The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation.  Edward  Atkinson.  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1889. 

Laggards  in  Our  Schools,  Leonard  P.  Ayres.  Charities  Publication 
Committee,  N.  Y.,  1909. 

Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Economics.  Charles  Jessie  Bullock. 
Silver,  Burdett  &  Co.,  New  York,  1900. 

Medical  Inspection  in  the  Schools.  Luther  H.  Gulick  and  Leon- 
ard P.  Ayres.  Charities  Publication  Committee,  New  York, 
1908. 

The  Elements  of  Vital  Statistics.  Arthur  Newsholme.  Swan, 
Sonnenschein  &  Co.,  London,  1889. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Value.  William  Smart.  Mac- 
millan &  Co.,  London,  1890. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xix 

The  New  Era.   Josiah  Strong.   Baker,  Taylor  Co.,  New  York, 

1893. 
American  Charities.  Amos  G.  Warner.  Thos.  Y.  Crowell  &  Co., 

New  York,  1898. 

XI.  PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT 
The  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission. 
The  Reports  and  Bulletins  of  the  Census  Bureau. 
The  Annual  and  Special  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor. 
Bulletins  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor. 

XLT.  PUBLICATIONS  OF  STATE  LABOR  BUREAUS 
The  Reports  of  the  Labor  Bureaus  of  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey, 
and  New  York  are  the  best. 

N.  B.  In  1902  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor  pub- 
lished an  Index  of  Labor  Reports.  This  volume  is  an  excel- 
lent guide  for  the  investigation  of  any  labor  subject  in  the 
state  and  federal  publications. 

XTTT.  FILES  OF  PERIODICALS 

American  Journal  of  Sociology. 

American  Statistical  Association. 

Annals  of  the  American  Academy. 

Charities  and  the  Commons  (now  The  Survey). 

Economic  Studies. 

The  Independent. 

Journal  of  Political  Economy. 

Journal  of  Political  Science. 

Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics. 

Sociological  Papers. 

Yale  Review. 

N.  B.  There  are  many  excellent  articles  scattered  through 
these  periodicals,  but  they  are  too  numerous  to  be  listed 
here.  Reference  to  many  of  them  is  made  in  the  text  of  this 
essay. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  AMONG 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  PEOPLE  OF 

AMERICA 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   STANDARD   OF   LIVING 

"How  can  these  people  endure  it?  "  asked  the  fair  boarder, 
closing  her  novel  and  lazily  sinking  into  the  depths  of  her 
hammock.  "Mr.  Farmer  drudges  from  four  A.M.  till  dark 
—  always  doing  chores,  and  never  a  visible  result !  He  's 
never  been  to  the  theatre !  Why,  he  has  n't  even  read  'The 
Balance  of  Power ' !  I  don't  call  that  living  —  it  may  be 
existing."  Such  words  are  heard  every  day  in  rural  sum- 
mer resorts.  Corresponding  sentiments  are  entertained  by 
many  a  farmer  who  cannot  see  how  his  guests  are  held 
by  the  chaotic  buzz  of  the  metropolis.  The  people  of  one 
city  block  "could  n't  be  hired"  to  move  to  certain  other 
squares;  yet  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  these  latter 
districts  "would  n't  be  buried  from  Z  street."  It  is  really 
amusing  to  notice  how  often  those  words  "live"  and 
"exist"  are  contrasted,  but  the  distinction  is  merely  the 
expression  of  the  fact  that  "consciously  or  unconsciously 
every  man  whose  means  or  wealth  or  resources  are  more 
limited  than  his  wants  —  and  this  is  practically  the  case 
with  human  beings  generally  —  has  a  scale  of  wants  in  his 
mind  when  he  arranges  these  means.  On  the  basis  of  this 
scale  he  satisfies  what  are  his  more  urgent  wants  and  leaves 
the  less  urgent  ones  unsatisfied."  l  In  other  words,  every 
man  has  his  own  "Standard  of  Living." 

1  Smart,  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Value,  p.  22. 


2  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Satisfactorily  to  define  the  standard  of  living  is  ex- 
tremely difficult.  Professor  Charles  J.  Bullock,  for  in- 
stance, writes,  "Each  class  of  people  in  any  society  is  ac- 
customed to  enjoy  a  greater  or  less  amount  of  the  comforts 
or  luxuries  of  life.  The  amount  of  comforts  or  luxuries  cus- 
tomarily enjoyed  by  any  class  of  men  forms  the  '  standard 
of  living'  of  that  class."  *•  That  is  to  say,  the  standard  of 
living,  as  the  expression  is  usually  understood,  consists 
simply  of  what  men  actually  do  enjoy.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  always  are  felt  but  unsated  wants  that  prompt  men 
to  struggle  for  higher  wages;  these  reasonable  unfilled  de- 
sires are  the  motive  power  of  progress.  Few  indeed  are  the 
women  who  do  not  confidentially  whisper  to  their  friends, 
"We  cannot  do  that  now,  for  we  are  rather  poor  this 
year."  An  inborn  spirit  of  emulation  prompts  each  to 
envy  the  pleasures  of  his  more  fortunate  neighbor;  thus 
there  is  an  "ideal"  standard  of  living  which  is  always  in 
advance  of  achieved  satisfaction. 

Professor  Bullock's  definition  is  particularly  valuable 
in  suggesting  two  important  truths.  First,  it  properly 
emphasizes  comforts  and  luxuries.  "If  we  are  to  judge  by 
his  expenditure,  the  workingman  may  graduate  his  wants 
thus :  —  bread  and  meal,  house,  liquor,  tea,  tobacco, 
clothes,  meat."  2  The  fact  is  that  in  every-day  affairs 
effort  is  often  directed  more  to  securing  superfluities  than 
to  providing  necessities :  for  example,  it  is  said  on  good  au- 
thority that  a  large  per  cent  of  recent  real  estate  mortgages 
in  New  York  have  been  given  that  the  owners  of  the  pro- 
perty might  purchase  automobiles.  In  the  second  place, 
the  extent  and  content  of  the  unsated  wants  in  a  man's 
ideal  standard  is  largely  determined  by  actual  satisfac- 
tions. This  truth  is  emphasized  by  Mr.  Frank  Tucker 
when  he  says,  "A  standard  of  living  is  a  measurement  of 
life  expressed  in  a  daily  routine  which  is  determined  by 

1  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Economics,  p.  126. 
1  Smart,  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Value,  p.  23. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  8 

income  and  conditions  under  which  it  is  earned,  economic 
and  social  environment,  and  the  capacity  for  distributing 
the  income."  x 

Having  noted  these  fundamental  principles,  it  is  possible 
to  take  another  step.  Each  individual  has  his  own  more  or 
less  rational  concept  of  what  is  essential  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  his  own  social  position;  and  he  knows  exactly 
what  this  position  is,  whether  he  be  the  bank  clerk  who  de- 
lights in  horse-races,  or  the  man  who  shares  the  same  desk 
and  plays  on  his  Sunday-school  ball  team.  The  one  de- 
mands "smart"  raiment  and  amusement  at  high  nervous 
tension,  the  other  wants  respectable,  serviceable  clothes 
and  healthy  sport.  They  live  in  different  worlds,  they  have 
individual  criteria:  so  each  man  has  his  own  standard  of 
living.  But  it  will  be  noted  that  the  bank  clerks  as  a  class 
have  some  wants  in  common  in  contrast  to  the  mechanics, 
for  instance.  The  clerks  must  enter  their  offices  clean- 
shaven, the  mechanics  like  a  good  scrub  after  work;  the 
former  wear  kid  gloves  and  fresh  linen,  the  latter  are  more 
comfortable  in  woolen  gloves  and  flannel  shirts.  These 
contrasts  and  comparisons  can  be  extended  until  the  stand- 
ards of  each  group  have  been  determined  with  considerable 
precision.  Thus  the  class  standard  of  living  may  be  com- 
pared to  a  composite  photograph;  certain  features  are  em- 
phasized, while  others  are  faint  or  blurred  according  to  the 
proportion  of  individuals  possessing  the  character  —  or 
feeling  the  want.  On  the  other  hand,  development  of  the 
individual  is  so  largely  influenced  by  his  environment  that 
his  notions  are,  in  the  main,  those  of  his  class.  So  the  class 
standard  of  living  is  the  product  of  the  ideals  and  resources 
of  its  members,  and,  in  turn,  modifies  their  criteria. 

But  class  is  not  the  only  factor  within  the  community  in 
the  development  of  the  individual's  ideal  standard  of  liv- 
ing. Aside  from  its  large  determining  influence  in  the  mat- 
ter of  class  membership,  income  has  an  important  part  to 
1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvii,  p.  300. 


4  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

play;  purchasing  power  limits  the  quality  and  quantity  of 
obtainable  satisfactions.  As  little  Tommy  wants  to  be  like 
Big  Brother,  and  Big  Brother  envies  the  prowess  of  the 
butcher-boy,  so  the  smelting  hand  feels  the  desires  —  not 
of  the  President  of  the  Steel  Trust  —  but,  say,  of  his  fore- 
man, the  nearest  person  whom  he  sees  enjoying  just  a  little 
more  distinction,  just  a  little  more  material  wealth  than  he. 
So  the  individual's  ideal  is  limited  by  his  income;  the 
higher  he  climbs  on  the  ladder  of  success,  the  wider  is  his 
view;  the  more  he  sees,  the  more  he  seeks. 

Another  determinant  of  the  standard  of  living  is  the 
progress  of  civilization.  Professor  John  G.  Brooks  quotes 
a  Cape  Cod  captain  as  follows:  "My  father  wanted  fifteen 
things.  He  did  n't  get  'em  all.  He  got  ten  and  worried 
considerable  because  he  did  n't  get  the  other  five.  Now  I 
want  forty  things,  and  I  get  thirty,  but  I  worry  more  about 
the  ten  that  I  cannot  get  than  the  ole  man  used  to  about 
the  five  he  could  n't  get." *  The  modern  carpenter  has  far 
more  comfort  than  Richard  II  dreamed  of,  simply  because 
progress  has  put  new  things  within  his  reach,  —  created 
new  utilities  and  new  wants,  —  but  the  carpenter  knows 
that  there  are  many,  many  things  that  he  cannot  have. 
Thus  there  is  a  constant,  though  irregular,  rise  of  the 
standard  of  living  as  civilization  becomes  more  complex. 
The  standard,  then,  is  a  result  of  two  forces,  environment, 
comprising  time,  income,  and  class,  and  individuality. 

It  will  not  do,  however,  to  leave  the  problem  at  this 
point.  As  the  standard  determines  the  manner  of  living,  it 
is  important  to  distinguish  between  worthy  and  unworthy, 
or  high  and  low  standards.  It  may  reasonably  be  doubted 
whether  the  standards  of  the  very  rich  are  ideally  any 
higher  than  those  of  industrial  workers.  A  dinner  given  by 
one  of  the  exclusive  four  hundred  with  a  monkey  as  the 
guest  of  honor  is  no  more  justifiable  than  the  practice  of 
the  "wash-lady"  who  displays  the  gold  fillings  in  her  false 
1  The  Social  Unrest,  p.  96. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  5 

teeth.  Both  are  useless,  if  not  positively  harmful;  they 
are  evidence  of  low  or  unworthy  ideals.  A  normal  standard 
of  living,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  which  conduces  to 
healthy  symmetrical  development,  physical,  mental,  and 
moral.  The  standard  is  properly  counted  ideally  high  in 
proportion  as  it  achieves  this  end,  and  especially  as  its 
emphasis  falls  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral  elements. 

What,  then,  is  the  content  of  the  lowest  tolerable  stand- 
ard of  living?  In  the  first  place,  there  must  be  food,  cloth- 
ing, and  shelter  sufficient  to  maintain  economic  efficiency. 
Even  those  persons  who  believe  that  the  sole  end  of  exist- 
ence is  production,  must  grant  this  proposition,  at  least  in 
its  general  application.  Under  shelter  is  included  light, 
fuel,  and  necessary  furniture.  If  economic  efficiency  is  to 
be  preserved,  there  must  be  provision  against  sickness  and 
unemployment;  for,  unless  his  strength  is  maintained 
during  idleness,  when  he  returns  to  work  the  individual  is 
unfit  for  his  stint.1  Moreover,  the  man's  standard  must 
include  a  family,  else,  in  a  generation,  production  will 
cease. 

But  this  view  of  the  purpose  of  man  is  far  too  narrow. 
Few  people  would  to-day  have  the  hardihood  to  deny  that 
man's  life  should  contain  the  largest  possible  amounts 
of  wholesome  pleasure.  "One  of  the  strongest  human 
wants  is  the  desire  for  the  society  of  one's  fellows." 2  This 
means  that  with  a  normal  standard  of  living  the  house 
should  contain  a  room  fit  for  entertainment  of  company, 
that  the  family  should  have  clothes  which  will  enable  them 
to  appear  in  public  without  shame,  and  that  the  routine 
should  include  some  leisure  for  polite  intercourse.  Still  if 
man  is  to  be  an  end  in  himself,  he  must  have  more  than 
this;  he  needs  some  education,  books,  pictures,  and  whole- 
some recreation;  he  must  have  time  for  the  home  life  that 

1  9th  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1897,  Italians  in 
Chicago,  pp.  44-46. 
1  Bullock,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Ecomonics,  p.  80. 


6  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Colonel  Roosevelt  calls  "the  highest  and  finest  product  of 
our  civilization."  A  little  boy  once  defined  home  as  "the 
place  where  mother  is."  From  the  viewpoint  of  the  child's 
welfare,  this  youngster  undoubtedly  hit  upon  the  signi- 
ficant fact.  Modern  scientific  charity  as  well  as  the  Christ- 
ian religion  recognizes  a  very  real  social  value  in  the  home. 
It  is  probably  this  which  is  in  the  mind  of  Professor  John 
A.  Ryan  when  he  writes  that  the  wife  should  not  be  a  wage- 
earner,1  thus  implying  that  the  father  should  support  the 
family.  Beside  all  these  things,  a  normal  standard  of  living 
contains  provision  for  all  emergencies,  sickness,  accident, 
unemployment,  and  death,  and  for  material  advance  — 
savings :  religion,  too,  should  be  in  the  routine.  So  the  ideal 
standard  of  living  demands  the  satisfaction  of  reasonable 
wants  of  both  body  and  intellect,  and  includes  an  ambition 
to  improve. 

Now  the  question  arises,  What  does  it  cost  in  America 
at  the  present  time  to  maintain  a  reasonable  standard  of 
living  ?  What  is  the  money  equivalent  of  a  minimum  per- 
missible standard  ?  Professor  Ryan  and  John  Mitchell  an- 
swer, six  hundred  dollars  per  annum;  Professor  Albion  W. 
Small  says  a  thousand  dollars.2  This  is  one  method  of  mea- 
suring —  "the  wise  guess."  Another  method  is  to  sit  down 
and  figure  out  what  a  family  needs,  and  what  these  goods 
cost.  When  this  is  done  by  experts,  the  result  is  a  valuable 
approximation.  Again,  a  large  number  of  budgets  of  fam- 
ilies in  a  certain  class  may  be  collected  and  the  average 
expenditure  computed:  this  average  may  be  considered 
the  monetary  expression  of  the  standard  of  living  in  that 
group.  By  far  the  most  satisfactory  method,  however,  is 
that  of  the  late  New  York  Commission  which  collected  and 
classified  budgets,  and  set  the  minimum  at  the  point  where 
the  average  family  ceased  to  run  into  debt,  —  $825  for 
New  York  City.  Having  found  this  money  equivalent,  it 

1  N.  C.  C.  C.,  1907,  p.  343. 

9  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvii,  p.  300. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  7 

is  possible  to  determine  what  laborers  are  justified  in 
claiming  as  a  "living  wage,"  and  what  relief  should  be 
given  families  in  order  to  keep  them  above  the  point  where 
their  old  standards  will  collapse. 

A  clear  understanding  of  what  the  standard  of  living  is 
permits  some  appreciation  of  its  significance.  In  the  first 
place,  unless  the  standard  includes  adequate  food,  cloth- 
ing, and  shelter,  health  will  inevitably  suffer  and  the  race 
will  degenerate  physically.  If,  on  the  contrary,  men  obtain 
a  proper  satisfaction  of  these  fundamental  wants,  not  only 
will  health  be  preserved  and  improved,  but  a  foundation 
will  be  laid  for  intellectual  progress.  A  step  farther  may 
be  taken  along  this  line :  unless  they  believe  that  their  de- 
scendants will  be  able  to  maintain  the  parental  standard, 
men  will,  if  thoughtful,  refuse  to  become  fathers.  Again,  if 
women  would  rather  dress  showily  than  enjoy  homes  of 
their  own,  married  or  unmarried,  they  will  refuse  to  assume 
the  burden  of  motherhood.1  Thus,  in  two  distinct  ways, 
the  standard  of  living  tends  to  determine  population.  By 
this  limiting  of  propagation,  the  standard  of  living  limits 
the  number  of  wage-workers,  and  so,  if  high  enough,  it  can 
change  the  ratio  of  supply  to  demand  for  labor  and  thus 
raise  compensation.  In  a  much  more  simple  and  direct 
way,  however,  the  desire  for  a  higher  standard  of  living 
decides  the  minimum  pay  demanded  by  trades  unions  and 
operates  to  increase  earnings.  More  satisfactions  will 
breed  new  wants,  yet  higher  wages  will  be  sought,  and  so 
the  process  will  continue.  In  this  way  the  "ideal "  standard 
of  living  is  the  key  to  the  material  progress  of  the  indus- 
trial classes. 

Moreover,  "in  most  cases  increased  wages  have  meant 
the  gratification  of  the  intellectual  and  artistic  sense  of  the 
workers;  have  meant  books  and  pictures;  have  meant  a 
few  extra  rooms  in  the  house  and  more  decent  surround- 
ings generally;  have  meant  a  few  years  extra  schooling 
1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toilt.  chap.  ii. 


8  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

for  the  children;  have  meant,  finally,  a  general  uplifting  of 
the  whole  working-class."  *  "The  encouraging  part  of  the 
whole  matter  is  this,  that  among  the  poor  there  is  every- 
where the  intensity  of  purpose  that  causes  them  to  give  up 
material  things  —  food  and  raiment,  and  go  hungry  and 
shabby,  in  order  to  secure  the  spiritual  things,  amuse- 
ment, education,  and  social  relationship." 2  The  pursuit  of 
a  higher  standard  of  living  is,  then,  the  inspiration  of  intel- 
lectual advance ;  upon  it  depends  the  physical  and  mental 
and  moral  welfare  of  the  people,  the  development  of  the 
commonwealth.  Two  things,  therefore,  are  essential  to 
the  progress  of  a  nation :  first,  that  the  individuals  receive 
so  much  material  wealth  as  will  enable  them  to  satisfy 
their  reasonable  wants,  and,  second,  that  they  continually 
discover  new  and  wholesome  desires. 

1  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  p.  153. 

*  Philip  W.  Ayres,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  ix,  p.  216. 


CHAPTER  II 

FAMILY   EXPENDITURES 

"!N  America,  where  tradition  and  family  play  an  unimport- 
ant part,  the  great  educator  is  the  spending  of  money."  l 
"Tell  me  how  you  spend  your  money,  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  you  are,"  says  an  American  economist.  Indeed,  it 
is  doubtful  whether  there  can  be  found  a  better  criterion 
of  character  —  or  of  culture  —  than  the  disbursement  of 
money.  On  the  other  hand,  limited  means  harshly  cir- 
cumscribe that  freedom  of  expenditure  which  alone  would 
truly  reveal  the  real  personality.  It  is,  then,  with  a  two- 
fold purpose  that  household  budgets  are  studied:  first,  to 
learn  the  character  of  the  families,  and,  second,  to  deter- 
mine whether  they  can  afford  to  develop  desirable  traits. 
Do  workingmen  receive  enough  money?  Do  they  spend 
what  they  receive  judiciously? 

The  last  decade  has  witnessed  three  noteworthy  at- 
tempts to  answer  these  questions.  During  the  two  years 
November,  1903,  to  September,  1905,  Mrs.  Louise  Bolard 
More  held  the  "Fellowship  of  Greenwich  House,"  a  social 
settlement  on  the  lower  West  Side  of  New  York  City.2 
She  entered  heartily  into  the  life  of  the  district,  won  the 
confidence  of  the  people,  and,  with  some  assistance  from 
Miss  Elizabeth  Lennox,  succeeded  in  compiling  the 
budgets  of  200  families  which  she  considered  typical  of  that 
locality.3  Of  these  households,  27  had  incomes  of  less  than 
$500;  72,  of  $500  or  less  than  $800;  44,  between  this 
amount  and  $1000;  46,  between  $1000  and  $1500;  and  11, 
of  over  $1500.4  The  extremes  were  $250  and  $2556,  and 

1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  69. 

2  More,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets,  p.  2. 

8  Ibid.,  pp.  2  and  7.  4  Ibid.,  p.  29. 


10  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

the  average  $851.38.  "If  the  woman  was  not  accurate  or 
reliable,  or  was  of  too  low  a  grade  of  intelligence  to  answer 
the  questions  on  the  schedule  intelligently,  that  family  was 
dropped"; x  other  families  could  not  be  studied  because  of 
the  intemperance  or  irregular  employment  of  the  husband. 
It  is  readily  granted  that  thorough  inquiry  into  the  affairs 
of  these  rejected  families  was  impossible,  but  that  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that,  unless  households  of  this  very  char- 
acter are  accorded  definite  statistical  recognition,  no  inves- 
tigation is  complete.  Again,  the  statistics  could  have  been 
presented  in  better  tables;  but,  on  the  whole,  Mrs.  More's 
work  is  highly  satisfactory. 

In  1901,  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  under  the 
direction  of  the  late  Carroll  D.  Wright  and  G.  W.  W. 
Hanger,  investigated  the  "Cost  of  Living"  for  25,440 
families,  divided  among  33  States  in  proportion  to  their 
manufacturing  population,  and  distributed  among  the 
various  industries  in  accordance  with  their  relative  import- 
ance. "  While  individual  statements  may  not  be  abso- 
lutely accurate,  it  can  be  safely  assumed  that  the  averages 
based  on  any  considerable  number  of  statements  correctly 
represent  the  group  or  class  of  families  from  which  they 
were  secured,  as  such  errors  as  may  exist  in  the  statements 
of  individuals  are  doubtless  compensating."2  The  results 
of  this  investigation,  which  were  published  as  the  Eight- 
eenth Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  are 
presented  in  six  parts: 

I.   Membership  of  Families. 

II.  Occupation,  Earnings,  and  Non-Employment  of 
Head  of  Family. 

III.  Income  and  Expenditures  of  Family. 

IV.  Detailed  Expenditures  in  2567  Families. 

V.  Income  and  Expenditure  in  11,156  Normal  Fam- 
ilies. 
VI.  Consumption  of  Food  in  1043  Normal  Families. 

1  More,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets,  p.  31. 

*  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  17. 


FAMILY  EXPENDITURES  11 

The  average  membership  of  these  households  was  4.38,  and 
of  the  normal  families,  3.96;  while  the  mean  income  of  all 
was  $749.50,  that  of  normal  families,  composed  of  a  husband 
at  work,  a  wife,  not  more  than  five  children  (none  more 
than  14  years  old),  and  no  dependents,  was  but  $650.98. 
The  study  was  confined  to  families  of  wage-workers  or  of 
persons  whose  salaries  did  not  exceed  $1200  per  year;  the 
data  were  collected  by  experienced  agents;  and  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  tabulated  results  requires  more  than  500 
pages.  The  physical  immensity  of  the  task  made  it  im- 
possible to  draw  distinctions  between  large  and  small  cities 
and  to  include  many  other  desirable  tabulations.  Yet 
enough  was  done  to  make  the  report  the  most  complete 
work  on  the  subject  ever  published  —  thoroughly  scientific 
and  comprehensive  —  intensive  enough  to  allow  many 
specific  deductions. 

The  latest  investigation,  however,  is,  as  it  should  be,  the 
most  complete  in  its  specific  field,  New  York  City.  At  the 
New  York  State  Conference  of  Charities  and  Corrections, 
in  November,  1906,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report 
at  the  next  conference  the  essentials  and  the  cost  of  a 
normal  standard  of  living  in  the  cities  of  the  state.  Dr. 
Lee  K.  Frankel  was  made  chairman,  and  Dr.  Robert  Coit 
Chapin,  secretary  of  this  committee.  When  it  became  ev- 
ident that  to  accomplish  much  by  volunteer  help  was  im- 
possible, the  trustees  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  came 
to  the  rescue,  paying  agents  to  gather  data.  Eventually  the 
schedules  of  391  families  were  accepted  as  substantially 
accurate.  Dr.  Chapin  studied  these  budgets  and  set  forth 
his  tables  and  conclusions  in  a  book,  "The  Standard  of 
Living  in  New  York  City,"  which  was  published  in  April, 
1909.  As  an  intensive  study  of  a  limited  area,  this  work  is 
peerless;  but  its  scope  is  confined  to  New  York  City  and  a 
brief  survey  of  the  conditions  in  Buffalo.  As,  in  all  proba- 
bility, both  the  total  cost  of  living  and  the  relative  prices  of 
necessities  are  abnormal  in  the  great  metropolis,  this  book 


12  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

is  of  no  great  significance  for  the  country  at  large.  Never- 
theless Dr.  Chapin's  conclusions  are  well  drawn,  and  have 
the  additional  merit  of  unusual  definiteness. 

With  the  exception  of  three  investigations  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  in  1874,  1883,  and 
1901,  these  are  the  only  really  serious  American  studies  of 
the  Standard  of  Living.  True,  some  attempts  have  been 
made  in  Maine,  Wisconsin,  and  other  states,  but  they  have 
lacked  comprehensiveness  and  definite  aim,  and  are  of 
little  value. 

As  has  been  said,  it  is  the  object  of  these  inquiries  to 
determine  how  much  workingmen  spend,  and  how  they 
spend  it.  The  classical  effort  in  this  field,  the  model  of  all 
subsequent  study,  was  the  achievement  of  Dr.  Frederick 
Engel,  who,  in  1857,  compared  the  budgets  in  Le  Play's 
famous  "Family  Monographs,"  added  data  of  his  own,  and 
formulated  his  schedule  of  the  normal  distribution  of 
expenditures  in  their  relation  to  income. 

TABLE  I 

ENGEL'S  TABLE  OF  PROPORTIONATE  EXPENDITURES 

Object       Percentage  of  the  expenditure  for  family  of  a  man  with  income  of: 
$225-$300        (450-8600  «750-$1000 

Subsistence  62  \  55 


Clothing  16  [  0,.  18 

Lodging  12  f  '  12 

Firing  and  lighting  6  J  5 


90 


Education,  religion,  etc.  2 ' 

Legal  protection  1 

Care  of  health  1 

Comfort,  recreation  1 


S.8] 


2.5 


From  this  table  Engel  deduced  four  famous  laws: 

1.  As  the  income  of  a  family  increased,  a  smaller  per- 
centage of  it  was  expended  for  food. 

2.  As  the  income  of  a  family  increased,  the  percentage 
of  expenditures  for  clothing  remained  approximately  the 
same. 


FAMILY  EXPENDITURES 


13 


3.  With  all  the  Incomes  investigated,  the  percentage  of 
expenditure  for  rent,  fuel,  and  light  remained  invariably 
the  same. 

4.  As  the  income   increased  in  amount  a  constantly 
increasing  percentage  was  expended  for  education,  health, 
recreation,  amusements,  etc.1 

The  brilliant  work  of  this  German  statistician  was 
confirmed  in  the  main  by  the  early  work  in  America.  The 
Massachusetts  Labor  Report  for  1885,  for  instance,  con- 
tained the  schedule  embodied  in  Table  n. 

TABLE  II 

EXPENDITURES   IN   WORKINGMEN*S   FAMILIES   IN   MASSACHUSETTS,    1885s 


Object 

Percentage  of  the  expenditure  for  family  with  income  of 

$300 
to 
450 

$450 
to 
600 

$600 
to 
750 

$750 
to 
1200 

$1200 
and 

over 

Subsistence          64  1 
Clothing                 7  1  Q7 
Rent                     20  |  y7 
Fuel                        6  J 
Sundries                  3 

63      } 

10'5l95 
15.5  [  a5 

6     J 
5 

601 
14  1  Q. 
14  f94 
6j 
6 

561 

15  1  Q, 

17     94 

6J 
6 

51 
19 
15 
5 
10 

90 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  1885,  in  America,  a  larger 
share  of  income  was  absorbed  by  the  subsistence  wants, 
less  being  left  for  sundries  —  education,  health,  recreation, 
and  amusements.  Two  other  facts,  however,  are  particu- 
larly significant :  whereas  the  Belgian  or  German  outlay  for 
lodging  remained  constant  at  12  per  cent  as  the  income  in- 
creased, American  rents  fell  from  20  per  cent  to  15  per  cent 
of  the  expenditure ;  second,  as  they  became  more  prosperous, 
Americans  enlarged  their  relative  expenditure  for  clothing. 
This  might  have  indicated  extraordinarily  high  rents  hi 
Massachusetts,  or  very  great  lack  of  good  clothing  in  the 
lower  income  groups,  or  both.  The  condition  in  1901,  how- 

1  Bullock,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Economics,  p.  99-100. 
3  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1885,  pt.  rv,  p.  52. 


14 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


ever,  was  much  more  favorable  to  the  Massachusetts  work- 
ing people,  as  the  proportion  of  expenditure  devoted  to 
existence  wants  had  fallen  in  every  income  group  from  2  to 
6  points,  the  gain  being  largely  in  reduced  food  cost.  Still, 
the  expenses  for  clothing  increased  with  the  income,  but 
not  so  excessively  as  in  1885;  rents  were  still  inordinately 
high,  and  the  relative  cost  of  lighting  had  begun  to  fall  as 
income  grew.  (See  Table  in.)  The  Americans  were  by 
that  time  more  liberal  in  their  expenditures  for  health 
and  insurance  than  were  the  Germans. 

TABLE  HI 

EXPENDITURES  EN  WOBKTNGMEN's   FAMILIES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS,    1901  * 


Otject 

Percentage  of  the  expenditure  for  family  with  income  of 

Lest 

than 
$450 

$450 
to 
600 

$600 
to 
750 

$750 
to 
1200 

$1200 

and 
over 

Subsistence                        56. 
Rent                                   121.96 
Clothing                               9.15 
Fuel  and  lighting                 7.91 

54.89 
17.54, 
11.69 
6.91 

53.30 
17.27  ' 
11.68 
6.75 

53.18 
11.03 
14.66 
5.39 

54.87 
6.80 
14.62 
4.49 

95.02 


91.03 


89.00 


84.26 


80.78 


Education,  church,  etc.       1.61 
Health,  insurance                2.98 
Sundries                                 .39 

2.92 
4.69 
1.36 

3.99 
3.98 
3.03 

4.12 
5.06 
6.56 

4.58 
6.39 

8.25 

4.98 

8.97 

11.00 

15.74 

19.22 

Total  aver,  expend.       $382.49 

555.53 

688.87 

886.50 

1252.59 

In  Tables  rv,  v,  and  vi  (pages  15, 16, 17),  taken  from  the 
three  great  studies  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this  chap- 
ter, will  be  found  an  epitome  of  the  subject  of  budgets.  The 
presentation  shows,  first,  the  actual  average  of  all  expendi- 
tures of  families  in  each  income  group,  and,  second,  the 
percentage  of  the  total  outlay  devoted  to  each  major  want. 
In  the  perusal  of  these  tables  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
in  no  case  does  the  expenditure  for  food  reach  51  per  cent: 
1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1901,  pp.  296-297. 


I 


I 

•3 

•i 


Income  Group 

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H 

N 

M 

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I 


18  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

in  other  words,  American  workingmen  now  find  food  a 
much  less  pressing  claimant  of  their  resources  than  did 
Engel's  subjects,  or  even  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  in 
1885.  Another  interesting  fact  is  that  after  the  income  of 
$600  is  reached,  the  relative  strength  of  food  wants  dimin- 
ishes rapidly  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  though  in 
New  York  City  there  is  little  gain  in  that  respect,  food 
there  absorbing  proportionately  less  of  the  low  incomes  and 
more  of  the  high  ones.  Again,  there  is  something  sinister  in 
the  enormous  excess  of  rent  paid  in  New  York  City,  espe- 
cially by  families  of  small  resources.  Whereas  the  average 
outlay  for  rent  in  the  income  group  $400-$500  in  the  city  is 
$120  or  $125,  that  in  the  country  as  a  whole  is  $86.54.  Dr. 
Chapin  explains  this  phenomenon  on  the  ground  that 
exorbitantly  high  rents  in  the  metropolis  force  people 
who  live  there  to  consider  shelter  almost  their  prime  want. 
It  is  a  peculiarity  of  New  York  City  that  as  their  incomes 
grow  larger,  most  families  instead  of  seeking  better  quar- 
ters have  to  be  content  with  a  minimum  of  improvement 
in  their  houses,  and  are  constrained  to  devote  their  addi- 
tional resources  largely  to  the  purchase  of  food.1  It  may  be 
interesting  to  note  that  at  the  recent  Berlin  City  Plan 
Exhibit  it  appeared  that  many  families  in  the  1200-1500 
marks  income  group  in  Schoenberg  paid  about  one  hah* 
their  money  for  rent,  and  that  the  percentage  expenditure 
for  housing  falls  off  in  the  higher  and  lower  groups.2 

In  general,  as  prosperity  grows,  clothing  is  awarded  a 
constantly  increasing  proportion  of  income,  though  among 
the  more  well-to-do  families,  especially  among  those  whose 
accounts  were  recorded  in  Dr.  Chapin's  tables,  there  is  a 
slight  decrease  in  the  per  cent  of  outlay  for  raiment.  When 
a  man  is  very  poor,  his  first  necessities  are  food  and  a  safe 
place  in  which  to  sleep.  After  both  of  these  wants  have  been 
supplied,  he  can  devote  his  efforts  to  satisfying  other 

1  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xiv,  p.  638  ff. 
a  The  Survey,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  644. 


CHART  I 


PER  CENT  OF  TOTAL  EXPENDITURES  MADE  FOR  VARIOUS 
PURPOSES  BY  200  NEW  YORK  CITY  FAMILIES  IN  RELATION 
TO  SIZE  OF  INCOME 

(Plotted  from  data  on  page  55  of  Wage-Earner's  Budgets,  by  Mrs.  L.  B.  More.) 
See  Table  iv  preceding. 


6200       $400 
WO 500 


$500 
600 


$600 
700 


$700 
800 


$800 
900 


45* 
4S» 
35*1 

30* 
I 

25* 

20* 
> 

10* 

-,  J 

5* 
f 


RENT 


-4-SUNS5 


SO  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

desires.  His  hunger  he 'can  conceal;  he  can  escape  tempo- 
rarily from  squalid  home  surroundings;  but  he  cannot  so 
easily  rid  himself  of  his  rags  —  the  badges  of  his  poverty. 
So  pride  prompts  him  to  secure  better  clothes  as  soon  as 
his  resources  will  permit  him  to  do  so.  Fuel  and  lighting 
expenses  slowly  decline,  and  outlay  for  sundries  rapidly 
rises  in  importance  as  incomes  become  more  ample. 

Engel's  laws,  then,  need  considerable  modification  before 
they  can  be  applied  to  American  workingmen  of  the  pre- 
sent time.  They  may  be  restated  thus: 

As  the  income  increases: 

1.  The  proportionate  expenditure  for  food 

a.  decreases  for  the  country  at  large  from  50  per 
cent  to  37  per  cent,  but 

b.  in  New  York  City,  it  amounts  to  almost  45  per 
cent  of  the  total  outlay  until  an  income  of  $1000 
is  attained. 

2.  There  is  a  strong  tendency  for  the  percentage  of  ex- 

penditure for  clothing  to  increase. 

3.  Relative  expenditures  for  housing 

a.  remain  about  constant  for  the  country  at  large, 
falling  very  slightly  after  $400  incomes  have  been 
reached,  but 

6.  decrease  rapidly  from  30  per  cent,  or  more,  to  16 
per  cent  in  New  York  City. 

4.  Proportionate  expenditures  for  fuel  and  light  de- 

crease. 

5.  Expenditure  for  culture  wants  increases  absolutely 

and  relatively. 

These  deductions  are  graphically  illustrated  in  the  curves 
on  Charts  i  to  in.  (See  pages  19,  21,  and  23.)  Could 
the  words  "large  city"  be  substituted  for  New  York? 
Some  facts  make  it  probable,  yet  New  York  has  undoubt- 
edly gone  farther  in  the  evolution  of  exorbitant  rentals 
than  any  other  American  municipality.  At  any  rate,  the 
substantial  agreement  between  the  results  of  Mrs.  More 


CHART  H 


PER    CENT    OF   TOTAL    EXPENDITURES    MADE    FOR   VARIOUS 
PURPOSES  BY  391  NEW  YORK  CITY  FAMILIES  IN  RELATION 
.     TO   SIZE   OF   INCOME 

(Plotted  from  data  on  page  70  of  the  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  R.  C.  Chapin.) 
See  Table  v  preceding. 

$400        §500          $600          §700          $800          8900         $1000         $1100        $1200 
500  600 700 800  900  1000          1100  ,         1200  1300 


50* 


46* 


40* 


35* 


30* 


25* 


20* 


ID* 


5* 


22  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

and  Dr.  Chapin  is  high  testimony  to  the  accuracy  of  their 
work. 

TABLE  VH 

INCOME  AND  EXPENDITURE  PER  FAMILY  FOB  NORMAL  l  FAMILIES  BT  SIZB 
OF   FAMILIES  2 


Actual  expenditures  for  various  purposes 

No  C*        1C.          2  C.         3  C.           4  C. 

5  C.    Average 

Total  F.*                2124       2579       2700       1973       1248 

532 

Income    per  F.;  $632.61  $638.29  $649.04  $665.90  $683.16  $664.82 

Rent 

115.67    110.16    110.23    112.69    112.39 

111.03 

Fuel 

27.22      27.87      28.38      28.75      28.40 

30.33 

Light 

6.55        6.78        7.02        7.12        7.26 

7.00 

Clothing 

71.06      75.39      80.63      85.10      89.64 

92.97 

Sundries 

120.75    127.19    125.17    124.54    126.64 

112.84 

Total 

341.25    347.39    351.43    358.20    364.33 

354.17 

Food 

230.64    248.87    267.41    287.86    306.44 

317.05 

Total     "    "      571.89    596.26    618.84    646.06    670.77 

671.22 

It  remains  to  speak  of  a  few  other  general  influences 
on  the  budget.  Table  viz  shows  that  in  general  the  fam- 
ily incomes  are  larger  in  households  having  more  child- 
ren. As  the  size  of  the  family  increases,  the  total  family 
expenses  rise,  and  the  food  cost  constantly  grows  larger. 
In  fact,  expenditures  increase  so  much  faster  than  in- 
comes that,  for  families  having  five  children,  there  is  an 
average  deficit.  Another  interesting  development  is  the 
slight  food  cost  entailed  by  an  additional  child  —  never 
more  than  $20.50  per  annum.  It  is,  however,  almost  in- 
credible that  an  additional  child  can  be  clothed  for  from 
$3  to  $5  per  year,  or  that  less  rent  will  suffice  to  provide  ac- 
commodations for  five  little  ones  than  for  three.  It  is  easy 
to  conceive  of  a  family  without  children  disbursing  its 
income  arbitrarily;  but  the  other  figures  have  a  definite 
meaning  —  income  does  not  increase  in  proportion  to  need. 
More  food  has  to  be  purchased:  this  additional  food  is 

1  See  p.  11  for  definition. 

2  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  568. 
*  C  =  child  or  children.  4  F  =  family  or  families. 


CHART  III 


PER  CENT  OF  TOTAL  EXPENDITURES  MADE  FOR  VARIOUS 
PURPOSES  BY  11,156  NORMAL  FAMILIES  THROUGHOUT  THE 
UNITED  STATES  IN  RELATION  TO  SIZE  OF  INCOME 

(Plotted  from  data  on  pages  101  or  585  of  the  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United  Statet 
Committioner  of  Labor.)  See  Table  vi  preceding. 

Under  $200      $300      $400     $500      $600      $700      $800      $900     $1000    $1100     Orer 
200     300 400 __  500       600       200       800       900   _JOOa     1100      1200       1200 


50* 
4Sf 
40* 
35> 
30* 


10* 


24  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

obtained  only  at  the  sacrifice  of  a  good  home,  decent 
clothing,  and  those  little  comforts  included  under  the  head 
of  sundries.  This  is  further  exemplified  in  Table  viu  (see 
below).  Granting  that  it  is  cheaper  to  live  wholesale,  and 
that  adults,  being  larger  consumers,  raise  the  necessary 
average  cost  of  existence  more  than  when  there  are  fewer 
children  in  the  family,  are  not  these  reductions  of  expendi- 
ture per  individual,  especially  those  for  food,  clothing,  and 
rent,  too  great  to  be  accounted  for  by  anything  save  a 
lower  standard  of  living?  Can  a  reduction  of  outlay  from 
$198  to  $96  per  capita  bring  about  anything  but  suffering 
in  the  larger  family? 


INCOME    AND    EXPENDITURE    PER    INDIVIDUAL    IN    NORMAL    FAMILIES    BT 
SIZE  OF   FAMILY  1 

No  C.»  1C.  2  C.  S  C.  4  C.  BC. 

Income  per  individual      $316.31  $212.76  $162.26  $133.18  $113.86  $94.97 
Outlay  per  individual  for 

Rent                                   57.83  36.72  27.56  22.54  18.73  15.86 

Fuel                                     13.61  9.29  7.09  5.75  4.73  4.33 

Light                                    3.27  2.26  1.75  1.42  1.21  1.00 

Clothing                             35.53  25.13  20.16  17.02  14.94  13.28 

Sundries                              60.37  42.40  31.29  24.91  21.11  16.12 

Total                             170.61  115.80  87.85  71.64  60.72  50.59 

Food                                   115.32  82.96  66.85  57.57  51.07  45.29 

Total                             285.93  198.76  154.70  129.21  111.79  95.88 

The  fact  that  incomes  are  insufficient  is  further  con- 
firmed by  the  statistics  of  saving.  Of  the  25,440  families 
studied  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  12,816,  or  50.38  per  cent 
had  surpluses  which  averaged  $120.84;  and  4117,  or  16  per 
cent  had  deficits  averaging  $65.58;  while  33.44  per  cent  of 
the  families  barely  finished  the  year  without  contracting 
debt.8  Now  such  a  state  of  affairs  that,  during  a  year  of 
prosperity,  one  sixth  of  all  families  fall  into  debt,  and  49 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  588.] 

1  C  =  child  or  children. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  p.  69  S. 


FAMILY  EXPENDITURES  25 

per  cent  are  unable  to  save  for  a  "rainy  day,"  is  intoler- 
able. Incomes  are  not  sufficient.  Of  Mrs.  More's  families, 
a  larger  number  had  deficits  than  had  surpluses,  and  49 
per  cent  spent  just  exactly  what  they  earned.1  This  in- 
vestigator found  that  the  average  deficit  grew  smaller  as 
income  increased  up  to  $1000,  and  from  that  point  on, 
saving  was  possible.  Dr.  Chapin  found  that  Bohemians, 
Austrians,  Russians,  and  Italians  can  begin  to  save  if  they 
have  incomes  of  $700  or  $800,  while  Americans,  Teutons, 
and  Irish  "do  not  reach  the  saturation  point,  so  to  speak, 
below  an  income  of  $900  or  $1000."  2  In  this  connection 
it  may  be  well  to  observe  that  the  mere  saving  of  money 
is  not  in  itself  proof  that  a  proper  standard  of  living  has 
been  attained.  The  effort  to  save  money  may  result  in  a 
sacrifice  of  health  or  proper  comfort.  Food  is  probably 
the  first  point  where  most  people  economize,3  and  yet 
food  is  often  the  one  object  of  outlay  that  can  least  wisely 
be  limited,  as  the  health  may  be  seriously  impaired  by 
this  curtailment. 

In  its  investigations  of  New  York  standards,  the  com- 
mittee discarded  the  schedules  of  all  families  spending  less 
than  $600.  The  class  earning  from  $600  to  $700  was  also 
considered  below  a  normal  standard;  the  housewives  in 
this  group  cannot  be  expected  to  display  exceptional  man- 
aging ability.  The  households  with  incomes  in  the  $700  to 
$800  class  could  barely  support  themselves  without  debt, 
provided  there  were  no  such  emergencies  as  sickness  and 
death.  But  in  the  next  income  group,  $800-$900,  was 
found  what  might  be  called  prosperity  —  the  families 
lived  in  what  they  considered  comparative  comfort.4  At 
this  point  the  demands  for  food  and  shelter  and  clothing 
seem  to  reach  an  equilibrium,5  and  the  culture  wants  begin 

1  More,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets,  p.  108. 

2  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  247. 

*  Goodyear,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvi,  p.  191. 

4  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xix,  p.  1039,  also  p.  1053  ff. 

*  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xiv,  p.  638  ff. 


26  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

to  increase  rapidly  and  constantly.  Thus  it  was  determined 
that  in  New  York  City  the  physical  wants  of  a  normal 
family  cannot  be  properly  filled  by  an  income  of  less  than 
$800.  But  even  at  this  point,  a  high  standard  of  living  has 
not  been  reached,  for,  as  appears  in  Tables  rv,  v,  and  ix, 
the  intellectual  wants  are  only  just  beginning  to  receive 
recognition. 

TABLE  IX 

EXPENDITUKE   OF  INCOME  IN  NEW  TOBK,   BY   INCOME  GROUP  * 


Group 

I 

II 

III 

Average  income 

$650 

$746 

$845 

Rent 

154 

156 

167 

Car  fare 

12 

13 

14 

Fuel  and  light 

35 

37 

39 

Furniture 

6 

9 

9 

Insurance 

18 

19 

19 

Food 

270 

320 

345 

Meals  away 

18 

22 

22 

Clothing 

91 

102 

112 

Health 

11 

16 

18 

Taxes,  dues,  contributions 

8 

11 

11 

Recreation 

3 

6 

6 

Education 

5 

5 

5 

Miscellaneous 

25 

30 

40 

In  summary,  then,  it  appears  that  food  is  the  claimant 
of  the  largest  share  of  the  income  of  workingmen's  families, 
causing  from  35  per  cent  to  51  per  cent  of  the  expenditure; 
the  variations  depend  on  the  locality  and  on  the  size  of 
the  income.  Rent  occasionally  consumes  30  per  cent  of  the 
total  outlay  in  the  city,  but  its  legitimate  place  seems  to  be 
between  15  per  cent  and  20  per  cent,  probably  close  to  18 
per  cent.  Clothing  absorbs  from  7.5  per  cent  to  15.5  per 
cent  of  the  resources,  the  families  of  the  lower  grades  being 
sadly  under-clothed.  Fuel  and  light  require  from  5  per 
cent  to  8  per  cent  of  expenditure,  the  proportion  falling  as 
earnings  increase.  After  these  outlays  have  been  made  to 
provide  a  bare  existence,  there  remains  11  per  cent  to  27 
per  cent  of  the  income  for  satisfying  other  wants  and  for 
1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  six,  p.  1050. 


FAMILY  EXPENDITURES  27 

saving.  But  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  this  item  of 
sundries  includes  health,  car  fare,  insurance,  toilet,  etc.,  it 
is  perfectly  evident  that  the  standard  of  living  must  be 
low  until  the  income  reaches  at  least  $700.  To  illustrate 
this  point,  Table  x  will  be  useful.  The  2567  families,  whose 
records  are  there  set  forth,  averaged  5.31  hi  size,  $827.19 
in  earnings,  and  $768.54  in  total  expenditures.  That  the 

TABLE  X 

DETAILED   EXPENDITURES   OF   2567   FAMILIES  l 

The  amount  of  expenditure  for  each  commodity  is  the  average  outlay 
of  families  having  expenditures  for  that  purpose. 


Object 

Families  having  expendi-     Average  amount  expended 
ture  far  given  object                 for  given  purpose 

No. 

Per  cent 

Amount 

Rent 

2076 

80.87 

$122.92 

Mortgage 

Principal 

142 

5.53 

145.82 

Interest 

203 

7.91 

53.73 

Fuel 

2566 

99.96 

32.24 

Lighting 

2567 

100.00 

8.15 

Clothing 

Husband 

2519 

98.13 

34.38 

Wife 

2534 

98.71 

26.37 

Children 

2279 

88.78 

54.15 

Taxes 

881 

34.32 

16.86 

Insurance 

Property 

806 

31.40 

4.89 

Life 

1689 

65.80 

29.55 

Organization 

Labor 

944 

36.77 

10.52 

Other 

1123 

43.75 

11.84 

Religion 

2062 

80.33 

9.49 

Charity 

1311 

51.07 

4.68 

Furniture 

2170 

84.53 

31.13 

Books  and  newspapers 

2432 

94.74 

8.82 

Amusements 

1807 

70.39 

17.44 

Liquors 

1302 

50.72 

24.53 

Tobacco 

2033 

79.20 

13.80 

Sickness  and  death 

1969 

76.70 

26.78 

Other  purposes 

2539 

98.91 

45.63 

Total  preceding  per  family 

441.64 

Food 

326.90 

Total 

$768.54 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  497,  502,  503, 
604,  and  510. 


28  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

mean  expenditures  of  these  families  for  books  and  news- 
papers should  be  only  $8.82,  for  clothing  children  only 
$54.15  (often  to  be  divided  among  three  or  four  little 
ones),  and  for  religion  only  $9.49,  seems  clearly  to  indicate 
a  low  standard  of  living. 

Finally,  as  the  number  of  children  in  normal  families 
increases,  the  income  grows  more  inadequate  to  the  phys- 
ical needs  of  the  household.  Does  it  seem  reasonable  that 
from  three  fourths  to  nine  tenths  of  a  workingman's  earn- 
ings should  provide  only  the  barest  subsistence,  and  that 
much  or  most  of  the  remaining  quarter  or  tenth  should  be 
used  in  securing  the  requisites  of  mere  physical  efficiency? 

In  the  detailed  study  of  the  life  of  American  industrial 
workers  that  is  to  follow,  attention  will  be  directed  first  to 
unemployment,  and  then  to  incomes,  which  can  be  really 
understood  only  in  the  light  of  the  facts  about  involuntary 
idleness.  Next,  the  three  fundamental  wants,  housing,  food, 
and  clothing,  will  be  studied.  After  that,  some  space  will 
be  devoted  to  conditions  of  work  and  living,  to  intellectual 
and  social  life,  and  to  the  determination  of  what  consti- 
tutes a  living  wage. 


CHAPTER  III 

UNEMPLOYMENT 

"!N  Philadelphia,  where  9672  men  had  been  employed  in 
certain  industries  in  1816,  7500  had  been  discharged  in 
1819.  This  city  was  not  exceptional."  1  Probably  nothing 
to-day  rivals  such  wholesale  unemployment,  yet,  in  times 
of  depression,  there  is  always  an  "army  of  the  out-of- 
work."  During  the  panic  of  1893,  for  instance,  Carlos  C. 
Closson,  Jr.,  estimated  that  in  sixty  large  American  cities 
523,080  workmen  were  unemployed.  Bradstreet's  returns 
revealed  581,956  idle  laborers  in  these  same  municipal- 
ities, and  placed  the  total  unemployment  in  the  110  cities 
at  777,165. 2  Again,  during  the  depression  of  1907-08, 
20,000,  or  50  per  cent  of  the  coal-miners  in  the  region  about 
Pittsburg  were  unoccupied  from  December  to  July;  two 
thirds  of  the  iron  molders  earned  nothing  at  their  profes- 
sion for  a  whole  year,  and  65  per  cent  of  the  carpenters 
suffered  both  reductions  in  wages  and  lack  of  work  —  a 
double  hardship.3  "From  every  class  and  occupation  of 
labor  came  the  answer  of  a  year  of  only  half  or  three 
fourths,  or  even  one  third  of  the  time  employed."  4  A 
canvass  of  1416  tenement-house  families  by  the  district 
nurses  in  New  York  City  divulged  the  fact  that  during  the 
month  of  February,  1908,  24  per  cent  of  the  heads  of  these 
households  could  find  nothing  to  do; 5  and  Graham  Taylor 
wrote  that  37  per  cent  of  the  membership  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  throughout  the 
country  were  receiving  out-of-work  benefits  during  this 

1  Brooks,  Social  Unrest,  p.  82. 

*  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  vol.  viii,  pp.  257,  260. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  271. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  xxi,  p.  1050.  5  Ibid.,  vol.  xix,  p.  1637. 


SO  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

month,  17.5  per  cent  in  June,  and  9.6  per  cent  in  Septem- 
ber, 1908  —  busy  seasons  for  this  trade.  Yet  these  sta- 
tistics do  not  show  the  total  extent  of  the  unemployment, 
for  no  allowance  is  made  for  those  who  having  some 
resources,  held  the  benefit  privilege  in  reserve,  and  for 
others  who,  being  in  arrears  for  dues,  were  ineligible  to 
enjoy  it.1  On  the  first  of  February,  1908,  50  per  cent  of 
the  men  in  some  of  the  building  trades,  and  from  25  per 
cent  to  30  per  cent  of  those  in  the  clothing  trades  were 
idle.2  Although  these  figures  relate  to  years  of  panic  and, 
for  the  most  part,  to  two  cities  where  the  effects  of  finan- 
cial depression  were  exceptionally  severe,  they  properly 
serve  to  call  attention  to  the  tremendous  extent  of  unem- 
ployment as  it  visits  certain  communities  from  time  to 
time. 

The  surprising  truth  that,  even  in  prosperous  times, 
"the  curse  of  the  American  workingman  is  irregular  em- 
ployment," 3  is  evidenced  by  the  meagre  statistics  avail- 
able. For  instance,  in  New  York  State  on  September  1, 
1900,  31,339  organized  laborers,  or  13.3  per  cent  of  the 
membership  of  the  unions,  were  unoccupied.  The  persist- 
ence of  enforced  idleness  year  in  and  year  out  is  shown 
in  Table  xi. 

Clearly  an  average  the  year  around  of  9.3  per  cent  of 
the  laborers  unemployed  is  a  serious  matter.  This  problem 
may  be  viewed  in  a  new  light  if  lost  time  is  considered. 

Thus  in  periods  of  great  industrial  activity  nearly  10  per 
cent  of  the  unionists  lost  a  month's  work  or  more  in  each 
quarter  of  the  year.  But  these  workers  are  endowed  with 
more  or  less  skill,  —  what  of  the  unskilled?  It  is  said  that 
the  Italians  in  New  York  do  not  work  an  average  of  5.5 
months  in  the  year.4  In  April,  1896,  the  Italians  in  Chi- 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  694. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xix,  p.  1464. 

1  Adams  and  Sumner,  Labor  Problems,  p.  170. 
*  Economics  of  the  Liquor  Problem,  p.  226. 


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UNEMPLOYMENT  S3 

cago  were  actually  studied,  and  it  was  found  that  of  2663 
wage-earners  1517,  or  56.97  per  cent,  were  idle  an  average 
of  over  seven  months.1  Not  quite  so  startling  are  the  results 
attained  in  1893,  shown  in  Table  xin. 


Slum  population 
Total  population  of  glum          unemployed 

Months  unemployed 

districts  canvassed 

Number 

Per  cent 

Total 

Aver  agt 

Baltimore 

18,048 

1564 

8.67 

S5255 

3  3.6 

Chicago 

19,748 

3135 

15.88 

7327 

3.1 

New  York 

28,996 

2615 

9.02 

6116 

3.1 

Philadelphia 

17,060 

2591 

15.19 

5132 

2.9 

When  it  is  noted  that  these  percentages  of  the  unem- 
ployed are  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion, a  little  more  of  the  significance  of  this  table  will  be 
grasped.  Suppose  a  full  half  of  the  people  to  be  wage- 
earners  —  surely  a  generous  estimate  —  there  would  have 
been  in  Baltimore  17.34  per  cent,  in  Chicago  31.76  per 
cent,  in  New  York  18.04  per  cent,  and  in  Philadelphia 
30.38  per  cent  of  the  bread-winners  out  of  work  an  average 
of  over  three  months  —  and  this  in  a  slum  population, 
people  who,  having  the  smallest  resources  naturally  suffer 
most  when  their  earnings  are  curtailed. 

The  facts  that  in  Kansas,  in  1904,  184  workmen  selected 
at  random  were  employed  an  average  of  only  267.7  days;4 
that  in  Illinois,  in  1886,  85,329  workmen  were  unoccupied 
an  average  of  over  28  per  cent  of  their  time; 5  that  in  Indi- 
ana, in  1900,  408  men  replying  to  inquiries  by  the  state 
labor  bureau  reported  an  average  idleness  of  78  days;6  and 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  no.  13,  p.  706. 

2  7th  Special  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  66, 
and  ibid. 

1  Not  including  those  for  whom  reports  were  not  made. 
4  Kansas  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industry,  1904,  p.  830. 
6  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  vol.  vi,  p.  253. 
8  Indiana  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1899-1900,  p.  199. 


34  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

that  260  days  is  an  unusually  fortunate  year's  work  in  the 
anthracite  coal-mines,1  —  tend  to  confirm  the  conclusion 
that  the  evil  of  unemployment  is  widespread.  It  is  possible, 
however,  to  find  more  general  facts  concerning  enforced 
idleness.  The  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made,  contains  some  valuable  data  on  unemploy- 
ment. Of  the  24,402  heads  of  typical  workmen's  families 
throughout  the  United  States,  12,154,  or  49. 8  per  cent,  were 
idle  one  week  or  more  during  the  year;  9203,  or  37.7  per 
cent,  were  unemployed  four  weeks  or  more;  6263,  or25.7  per 
cent,  were  unoccupied  at  least  eight  weeks;  and  13.1  per 
cent  could  find  work  no  more  than  three  fourths  of  the 
time.  The  total  labor  time  lost  was  114,612  weeks,  or  2240 
years.2  Supposing  that  every  25,000  male  wage-earners 
in  the  United  States  lose  2240  years  of  work  each  twelve- 
month, the  total  annual  loss  of  labor  would  be  2,120,000 
years,  or  30,000  seventy-year  lives,  there  being  some 
23,000,000  such  workers.3  This  may  be  an  exaggeration  of 
the  truth,  and  yet  the  census  figures  themselves  reveal  facts 
sufficiently  startling.  Take  Table  xiv  for  an  example. 

TABLE  XIV 

UNEMPLOYMENT  OF  HALE  WAGE-EARNERS  * 

Male*  10  years  of  age  and  over  engaged  in 
gainful  occupations 

Unemployed 

Total  Number  Per  cent 

!     Agriculture  9,404,429         1,830,803         19.5 

Professional  827,941  111,547         13.5 

Domestic,  personal  3,485,208         1,209,787         34.7 

Trade,  transportation  4,263,617  444,278         10.4 

Manufacturing,  mechanical         5.772,641         1,631,057        28.3 
All  occupations ,  23,753,836         5,227,472        22^0 

1  Adams  and  Sumner,  Labor  Problem,  p.  164. 

1  These  figures  are  calculated  from  the  data  given  on  p.  288  ff.  of  the 
18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor. 
1  18th  Census  of  the  United  States,  1900,  "Occupations,"  p.  ccxxvi. 
4  Ibid.,  p.  ccxxviii. 


UNEMPLOYMENT  S3 

But  these  statistics  have  slight  significance  without 
some  knowledge  of  the  duration  of  this  involuntary  idle- 
ness. On  this  point  the  census  data  are  rather  unsatisfac- 
tory, and  yet  they  furnish  some  aid  as  shown  in  Table  xv. 

TABLE  XV 

DTTRATION  OF   UNEMPLOYMENT  OP  MALES  l 

1-3  montht  4-6  months  7-12  mantht 

Number    Per  cent  Number   Per  cent  Number  Per  cent 

Agriculture                      956,554    52.3  729,476    39.8  144,773     7.9 

Professional                        47,679    42.7  44,294    39.7  19,574    17.6 

Domestic,  personal         562,981    46.5  510,424    42.2  136,382   11.3 

Trade,  transportation     215,082    48.4  158,606    35.7  70,590    15.9 
Manufacturing, 

mechanical                   810,840    49.7  626.746    38.4  193,471    11.9 

All  occupations        2,593,136    49.6  2,069,546    39.6  564,790    10.8 

It  appears,  then,  that  2,634,336,  or  11.1  per  cent  of  all 
males  over  ten  years  of  age,  who  engaged  in  gainful  occupa- 
tions in  the  United  States,  were  unemployed  three  months 
or  more.  It  may  be  said  that  in  general  those  persons  idle 
from  1  to  13  weeks  were  unemployed  an  average  of  6.12 
weeks,  those  unemployed  from  14  to  26  weeks  lost  17.62 
weeks  apiece,  and  those  out  of  work  more  than  six  months 
were  idle  about  28.51  weeks  each.2 

Applying  these  averages  to  the  census  figures  gives: 

2,593,136X  6.12  weeks  =  15,869,992  weeks 

2,069,546X17.61  weeks  =  36,444,705  weeks 

564,790X28.51  weeks  =  16, 102, 163  weeks 

68,416,860  weeks 

This  amounts  to  1,300,000  years  of  work  annually  lost  in 
the  United  States,  or  an  average  of  about  2.88  weeks  for 
every  male  engaged  in  gainful  occupation.  Perhaps  this 
does  not  seem  a  great  misfortune;  nevertheless,  since  it  is 
true  that  the  22  per  cent  of  American  laborers  who  did 

1  12th  Census  of  the  United  States,  1900,  "Occupations,"  p.  ccxxxv. 

2  Calculated  from  the  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Labor,  pp.  288,  289. 


36  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

actually  suffer  from  lack  of  work  probably  found  them- 
selves without  income  an  average  of  twelve  weeks  —  three 
months  —  the  fact  cannot  be  escaped  that  unemployment 
is  a  frightful  curse. 

That  by  including  persons  who,  like  college  professors, 
enjoy  vacations,  and  old  people  who  cannot  work,  these 
figures  may  exaggerate  the  evils  of  the  conditions  they  por- 
tray, is  readily  granted;  yet  those  few  individuals  who  do 
take  vacations  would  hardly  call  themselves  unemployed; 
moreover,  the  fact  that  people  are  too  old  to  labor  does  not 
make  it  easier  for  them  to  be  unable  to  earn  their  bread  and 
salt.  If  the  objection  is  raised  that  many  of  these  persons 
may  have  had  secondary  occupations,  the  reply  is  evident 

—  the  question  asked  for  unemployment,  not  for  unem- 
ployment at  the  primary  occupation.  At  any  rate,  judging 
from  the  results  obtained  in  an  investigation  in  Massachu- 
setts where  only  4.55  per  cent  of  the  unemployed  found 
other  work,  the  subsidiary  occupations  cannot  possibly 
furnish  any  considerable  alleviation.   The  census  statistics 
are,  then,  essentially  true  to  the  facts. 

Is  this  great  waste  of  productive  power  —  this  misery 
caused  by  the  loss  of  wages,  necessary  ?  What  are  its  causes  ? 

Mr.  W.  H.  Beveridge,1  believing  that  prosperity  or  busi- 
ness activity  fluctuates  in  periods  of  seven  to  twelve  years 

—  as  seems  to  be  the  case  —  holds  that  even  in  "good" 
times  a  reserve  force  of  labor  is  needed.    When  the  less 
active  years  come,  as  establishments  produce  less  there  are 
fewer  men  employed,  this  reserve  is  much  increased,  and  it 
eventually  becomes  a  surplus.  Thus  it  is  the  necessity  of  a 
reserve  labor  force  in  good  years  that  contributes  largely  to 
the  misery  of  the  poor  years.  The  important  truth  in  this 
generalization  is  confirmed  by  the  figures  already  given  in 
Table  xi.  Indeed  it  is  but  reasonable  that  a  reserve  should 
be  needed  to  replace  those  who  may  be  sick  or  otherwise 
temporarily  withdrawn  from  industry. 

1  Sociological  Papers,  vol.  iii,  p.  323  ff. 


CHART  IV 


MONTHLY  VARIATION  OF  EMPLOYMENT  IN  MASSACHUSETTS 

The  report  on  manufactures  of  this  state  annually  records  the  total  number  of  persons 
employed  each  month  of  the  previous  year.  These  numbers  are  used  in  plotting  the 
curves. 


Jgn.         Feb.        M«r.       Apr.        M«y        June        July         Aug.       Stpt.       Oct.         Kov.       P«c 


550000  -- 

g 

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j  * 

*  •*,  ^ 

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540000  -A- 

V 

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530  000  -- 

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510,000  

Zl.                                              , 

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38  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Professor  Warner  classifies  the  causes  of  unemployment 
thus:1  "There  are  those  who,  being  engaged  for  short 
periods  only,  have  finished  one  job  and  not  yet  entered  on 
another.  Others  belong  to  trades  in  which  the  volume  of 
work  fluctuates,  because  of  seasonal  changes,  most  com- 
monly during  a  year,  but  sometimes  during  longer  periods, 
as  in  ship-building  trades,  and  sometimes  during  periods  of 
less  than  a  year.  Still  others  are  economically  superfluous 
from  too  many  learning  such  trades,  from  changes  in  trade 
processes,  or  from  local  shifting  of  industries."  "Fourth, 
there  are  those  who  cannot  get  work  because  they  are 
below  the  standard  of  efficiency  usual  in  their  trades."  2 
An  example  of  the  second  class  is  the  fruit  and  vegetable 
canning  industry,  which,  in  1904,  employed  help  varying  in 
number  from  4739  in  February  to  132,828  in  September.3 
This  is  an  extreme  case,  and  the  hardship  entailed  by  ir- 
regularity is  probably  small  in  comparison  with  the  ad- 
vantage to  many  persons  of  an  opportunity  to  earn  a  little 
extra  money.  Canning,  however,  does  illustrate  the  point. 
The  regularity  of  a  seasonal  variation  in  employment  for 
industry  in  general  is  well  illustrated  by  Charts  iv  and  v 
(pages  37  and  39)  based  on  the  experience  of  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Jersey.  It  is  interesting  to  note  what  a 
decided  effect  the  beginning  of  the  panic  had  upon  these 
curves,  causing  an  enormous  drop  in  employment  in  the 
fall,  and  preventing  the  usual  winter  and  spring  rise.  Coal- 
mining is  an  industry  subject  to  great  fluctuations,4  little 
anthracite  being  produced  during  the  winter  because 
storing  diminishes  its  lustre  and  selling  value.  The  build- 
ing trades,5  agricultural  laborers,  glass-workers,  and  mil- 
liners, are  other  prime  sufferers  from  this  seasonal  variation 
which  may  or  may  not  be  counterbalanced  by  high  wages. 

Warner,  American  Charities,  p.  256  (new  edition). 
Ibid.,  p.  179  (old  edition). 
Census  of  Manufactures,  1905,  vol.  i,  p.  Ixxx. 
Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  six,  p.  750. 
New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1906,  p.  xii. 


CHART  V 


MONTHLY   VARIATION   OF   EMPLOYMENT   IN   NEW   JERSEY 


The  report  on  manufactures  of  this  state  annually  records  the  total  number  of  persona 
employed  each  month  of  the  previous  year.  These  numbers  are  used  in  plotting  the 
curves.  For  1908,  2127  firms  reported. 


Jan.       Feb.       Mar.      Apr:        May       June 

July      Anp.     Sept.       Oct.       NOT.       Dec. 

::::::::::::::::::;?£-:::: 

:  :  :  :  :  286,000 

::^::::::-:        :::|S 

i;:::    ::    sif:    -s:-- 

::zt.:                      ._^ 

St  „'  :*s::::::  : 

M°'COC1  ;;••••  i 

..^'::::::::::::::::g:::: 

J76.000  i  

_  -SI  ---275.000 

::      i"     •     •      ~:~_~ss~' 

^:. 

2-                   J  " 

::z::                --5 

-  -  |£o6  ^  ~  ~ 

2 

130,000  ^-g^p^llSS 

•  --/--•                                          --!60,000 

y 

^ 

-  ,,'    -          __ 

155,000  /-  

-_!v,i  _Z  1  's.  255,000 

^  

^  ' 

2 

uo.ooo  ,  -  =  '  _ 

^  350,000 

::::::-::<&::::::::-;-:::: 

"ffi         J=BJ4ls  11         TTT 

--^  7*  ?«,ooo 

y  -j'<n  • 

.      ^IXPANIO^- 

\\\\\M  \\\m 

•""iEE-EilEEiljJIijIilzjIBI 

S::;B:::^::::::::::::::::: 

:::::::::  f!:::::::::::::H 

Is;.  ::;!::::::::::::::::::: 

M6.000  -  .  +  -•» 

-  -  -  4  £&-  

J30.000   -y*--- 

_      -230,000 

J26.000  -- 

-  -  225,000 

MO.OOO  -- 

-  -  220,000 

no,ooo  •;H--n=  -H-H  —s  

-  x   :      :  :  _  :     :  ~:;JL.:~ 

,*2  _-  210.000 

:;i:::::::::::::::::j;K:: 

;v     : 

806,000  ^  -L-  .  K-  s- 

-&-  205,000 

::::::::::::::::?» 

.-  .-      ::    2 

5j>.5£^::::::::.~  ::: 

40  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Two  other  large  facts  here  present  themselves.  It  is 
generally  asserted  that  the  unskilled  laborers  are  more 
liable  to  unemployment  than  the  skilled.  Such  data  as  are 
available,  though  inconclusive,  seem  to  indicate  exactly  the 
opposite.  In  the  volume  on  "  Occupations  "  of  the  Census 
of  1900,  there  is  a  table  showing  the  percentage  of  per- 
sons 1  in  each  occupation  unemployed  for  some  part  of  the 
year.  Among  those  having  the  greatest  proportion  of 
idleness  are  glass-workers,  plasterers,  masons,  brick-  and 
tile-makers,  paper-hangers,  laborers,  miners  and  quarry- 
men,  painters,  glaziers  and  varnishers,  carpenters  and 
joiners,  etc.  The  figures,  therefore,  do  not  show  an  ex- 
cessive liability  to  lack  of  work  among  the  unskilled. 
Undoubtedly,  however,  having  lower  wages,  and  therefore 
less  adequate  resources  to  fall  back  upon,  there  is  greater 
suffering  among  the  lower  grades  of  workers  when  they  are 
idle  than  among  their  more  highly  trained  brothers.  In 
this  problem  of  the  unskilled,  one  factor  is  especially  pro- 
minent in  the  large  Eastern  cities.  Immigration  must  have 
some  influence  in  maintaining  the  surplus  of  these  labor- 
ers. In  this  connection,  however,  the  large  relieving  effect 
of  emigration  during  the  recent  panic  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten. The  introduction  of  new  machinery,  especially  in 
periods  of  depression,  causes  at  least  temporary  unem- 
ployment, even  though  the  ultimate  effect  is  more  work.8 
Still  another  impersonal  cause  of  enforced  idleness  must  be 
mentioned  —  bad  weather.  This  is  particularly  trouble- 
some among  the  members  of  the  building  trades. 

The  factors  so  far  mentioned  are  largely  impersonal,  but 
there  are  others  more  clearly  connected  with  the  individual 
workmen  —  accident,  inebriety,  old  age,  strikes,  sickness, 
and  vacations.  Table  xvi,  which  has  been  compiled  from 
the  statistics  in  the  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United 

1  12th  Census  of  the  United  States,  "Occupations,"  1900,  p.  ccmii,  and 
Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  271. 
1  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xix,  p.  753. 


S  §  OS  O  »H  i-H  00         «OO: 

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42  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  shows  the  actual  working 
of  the  various  forces.  The  effect  wrought  by  each  cause  is 
shown  by  the  number  of  men  whose  employment  it  inter- 
rupts; but  its  real  power  for  evil  is  better  measured  by  the 
duration  of  the  idleness  which  it  entails.  The  former  shows 
the  extent  of  the  suffering;  the  latter,  its  intensity.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  industrial  conditions  caused  from  53  per 
cent  to  60  per  cent  of  the  idleness,  bad  weather,  2.5  per 
cent  to  3.5  per  cent,  and  sickness  and  accident  about  31 
per  cent.  Thus  at  least  85  per  cent  of  the  idleness  was 
brought  about  by  causes  entirely  beyond  the  control  of 
the  men.  Strikes  and  vacations  do  not  occasion  4  per  cent 
of  the  loss  of  work. 

These  statistics  were  gathered  from  representative  work- 
men throughout  the  United  States,  and  are  probably  an 
accurate  expression  of  general  conditions.  The  statistics 
obtainable  from  the  unionists  in  New  York  State  show 
wide  variations  in  the  relative  importance  of  causes,1 
but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  New  York  fig- 
ures are  for  organized  workmen  only,  and  also  include  a 
large  proportion  of  workers  in  the  building  trades.  Con- 
ditions in  Kansas  2  essentially  confirm  the  government 
figures,  but  in  adopting  the  general  law,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  its  applicability  to  any  particular  locality 
is  uncertain. 

To  be  a  curse,  unemployment  must  have  evil  effects.  It 
has  been  computed  that  it  causes  from  9  per  cent  to 
47  per  cent  of  pauperism  3  and  thus  entails  a  tremendous 
burden  upon  the  country.  Idle  men  are  competitors  for 
the  positions  of  the  employed;  and  so  a  period  of  great 
financial  depression  can  often  be  utilized  for  such  a  lower- 
ing of  wages  as  happened  in  Pittsburg  during  1908,  or  even 

1  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1906,  xix. 
*  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industry,  Kansas,  1899,  pp.  289  and  291. 
1  Warner,  American  Charities,  chap,  ii;  Report  of  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission, vol.  xix,  p.  747. 


UNEMPLOYMENT  43 

for  the  breaking-up  of  unions.1  Unemployment,  more- 
over, has  a  tendency  to  deprive  its  victims  of  sufficient 
food;  thus  their  efficiency  for  future  work  may  be  seriously 
impaired,  or  savings  may  be  exhausted  and  debts  incurred 2 
which  will  be  a  handicap  when  prosperity  returns.  Again, 
there  is  a  marked  liability  for  idle  men  to  become  saloon 
or  corner  loafers,  to  fall  into  vice.  Hardship  and  idleness 
corrupt  the  morals  and  the  home.  Perhaps  it  is  true  that 
"with  the  progress  of  industries  greater  regularity  of  em- 
ployment is  secured,"  3  yet  while  so  many  industries  are 
over-capitalized  in  the  sense  that  the  proportion  of 
business  done  rarely  reaches  75  per  cent  of  the  capacity 
of  the  plants,  no  permanent  solution  of  the  problem  of  un- 
employment can  be  found. 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  271 ;  Mitchell,  Organized 
Labor,  p.  173. 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  no.  13,  p.  707. 
*  Ely,  Yale  Review,  vol.  xi,  p.  237. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INCOMES 

ALTHOUGH  the  theory  of  wages  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
essay,  it  is,  perhaps,  worth  while  to  mention  some  of  the 
influences  that  tend  to  differentiate  compensation.  The 
Census  Bureau  states  them  as  follows: 

Supply  of  labor,  including  women  and  children  able  to  dis- 
place men  as  operatives;  trades  unions;  organizations  of  employ- 
ers; industrial  combinations;  character  of  manufactures;  degree 
of  skill  of  the  operative;  conditions  of  business,  whether  prosper- 
ous or  otherwise;  number  of  days  worked;  laws  regulating  the 
employment  of  women  and  children;  differences  in  methods  and 
processes,  and  in  the  extent  to  which  machinery  can  be  used; 
character  of  machinery,  whether  demanding  in  its  operation  more 
or  less  of  skilled  labor  than  is  required  in  hand  processes;  and 
urban  or  rural  location  of  factories.  An  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  conditions  surrounding  each  industry  is  required  for  the 
complete  understanding  and  accurate  discussion  of  the  more 
important  phases  of  the  subject.1 

According  to  the  Austrian  theory  of  value,  wages  de- 
pend in  part  upon  the  worth  of  the  product.  Beyond  ques- 
tion this  value  of  output  determines  a  long-run  upper  limit 
of  remuneration;  yet  in  many  occupations  where  the  pro- 
duct is  very  valuable,  the  wages  are  not  high,  because 
the  laborers  could  be  easily  replaced  by  others.  Thus  "the 
army  of  the  unemployed,"  described  in  Chapter  in,  is 
engaged  in  a  ceaseless  campaign  against  high  wages.  On 
the  other  hand,  workingmen  fall  into  certain  non-compet- 
ing groups,  the  results  of  heredity,  standards  of  living,  and 
1  Census  Bulletin,  no.  93,  p.  14. 


CHART  VI 


UTILIZATION  OF  PLANTS  AND  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS 
OF  ALL  EMPLOYEES,  SELECTED  INDUSTRIES,  MASSACHU- 
SETTS 


1895 1S9C    1897   1898  189ff   1900  1901  1902  1T)03   1904    1905    1906  19071903 


90* 


46  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

such  monopolies  as  trades  unions,  which  can  restrict  the 
number  of  apprentices  and,  therefore,  the  number  of  labor- 
ers in  a  given  field.  Thus  those  who  are  at  work  gain  some 
degree  of  freedom  from  the  rivalry  of  the  idle.  The  intro- 
duction of  new  machinery  may  increase  the  earnings  of  the 
few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  or  it  may  raise  the  remun- 
eration of  the  many.  However  significant  it  may  appear  in 
theory,  risk  apparently  is  not  of  preponderate  or  practical 
importance  in  the  actual  fixing  of  wages;  too  many  other 
elements  are  considered  first,  and  every  man  hopes  that 
he  will  be  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  disease  or  accident. 
Most  girls  would  rather  stand  behind  the  counter  at  $4 
per  week  than  enter  "service"  for  $20  a  month  in  addition 
to  a  home  and  the  usual  perquisites  of  the  "domestic." 
This  preference  involves  two  elements  in  the  fixing  of 
wages,  the  relative  amount  of  pleasures  or  inconveniences 
attached  to  a  given  occupation,  and  the  social  position 
which  it  confers  upon  the  worker.  Other  factors  in  deter- 
mining comparative  wages  are  the  responsibility  of  the 
positions,  educational  prerequisites  and  the  intensity  of 
the  required  exertion. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  wages  actually  paid  seem  to  be 
largely  accidental.  Just  why  one  man  is  paid  $25  for 
laying  bricks  44  hours  a  week,  and  another  is  given  only 
$12  for  60  hours  of  brick-making;  why  one  man  receives 
40  cents  an  hour  for  spreading  paint  that  another,  equally 
skilled,  compounds  for  16  cents  per  hour,  is  not  easy  to 
explain  on  any  theory  of  value.1  Organization  accounts 
largely  for  this  difference  —  happy  the  trade  that  was 
early  organized! 

The  Census  Report  mentioned  difference  of  locality  as  a 
wage  determinant,  and  it  is  interesting,  in  this  connection, 
to  note  the  figures  in  Table  xvn,  calculated  from  the 
1906  Illinois  Labor  Report. 

1  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1907,  pp.  207-208. 


CHART  VII 


UTILIZATION  OF  PLANTS  AND  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS 
OF  ALL  EMPLOYEES,  ALL  INDUSTRIES,  MASSACHUSETTS 

Solid  line  represents  the  per  cent  of  the  productive  capacity  of  all  manufacturing  plants 

actually  utilized. 
Dotted  line  represents  average  annual  money  wages  of  all  employees. 


18951P9C   1S97   1898  1S99    1900   1901   1!W>   1903    190*  1903  J9Q6    1907TM3 


7!* 

70* 


68* 
67* 
66* 
65* 

at 

63< 


60» 


*515 


S47D 


$440 


$430 


48  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

TABLE  XVII 

KFFECT  OP  SIZE  OF  CITT  ON  THE  RATE  OP  PAT  OP  PERSONS  ENGAGED  IN 
MANUFACTURE  x 

Wage-earnert  Average  wagei 

Chicago                                                  191,844  $623.00 

Cities  over  20  M  population                231,964  618.00 

Cities  8  to  20  M  population                  27,694  576.00 

Remainder  of  the  State                          54,428  525.00 

The  facts  in  this  table  confirm  the  belief  that  the  larger  the 
city,  the  larger  the  average  earnings,  and  possibly  indicate 
that  both  the  cost  and  the  standard  of  living  are  lower  in 
the  smaller  communities.  Probably  this  is  one  of  the  sev- 
eral reasons  for  the  exodus  of  factories  from  large  to  small 
cities.2 

Another  interesting  fact,  in  connection  with  the  practical 
determination  of  wages,  is  their  dependence  on  general  in- 
dustrial prosperity  as  expressed  in  the  fullness  with  which 
the  productive  power  of  manufacturing  plants  is  utilized. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  curves  in  Charts  vi  to  ix  (pages 
45, 47, 49,  and  51),  plotted  from  the  statistics  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  well  to  point  out  that  these 
curves  as  well  as  those  in  Chart  x  (page  53)  show  a  con- 
stant increase  of  money  earnings,  except  for  the  setback  fol- 
lowing the  panic  of  1907.  This  tendency  is  fully  confirmed 
by  the  statistics  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor; 
nevertheless  retail  prices  of  food  are  advancing  so  rapidly 
that,  for  the  last  decade,  there  has  been  no  gain  in  the  real 
wages  of  persons  employed  in  manufacture.  This  is 
shown  in  Table  xvin  (page  50),  and  graphically  in  Chart 
xi  (page  55). 

Probably  one  reason  for  the  failure  of  real  wages  to 

1  Calculated  from  figures  on  pages  45,  69,  32  ff.  of  the  Illinois  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Report  for  1906. 

2  See  article  by  A.  F.  Webber,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  voL 

.  223  ff . 


CHART  VIII 

UTILIZATION  OF  PLANTS  AND  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS 
OF  ALL  EMPLOYEES  IN  COTTON  MANUFACTURES,  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS 

Solid  line  represents  the  per  cent  of  the  productive  capacity  of  all  manufacturing  plants 

actually  utilized. 
Dotted  line  represents  average  annual  money  wages  of  all  employees. 

189frt806  1897  1898   1899  1900  1901   1902  1903  1904   1905  19P8  1907^908 


S430 


$420 


$410 


$400 


S390 


53SO 


15350 


$330 


50  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

increase  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  less  skill  is  involved 
in  many  of  the  manufacturing  occupations,  and  that  the 
unskilled  workers  are,  with  or  without  the  aid  of  machin- 
ery, accomplishing  more  intricate  tasks.  Thus  there  is  a 
leveling  process  from  both  ends,  and  wages  tend  to  seek  an 
uniform  level.  Undoubtedly  the  unskilled  enjoy  almost  the 
entire  advantage  in  this  change.2 

TABLE  XVIII 

RELATIVE   WAGES   AND   PRICES  1 

(Relative  numbers  computed  on  basis  of  average  for  1890-1899  equal  to  100.0) 


Hour* 

Wages 

Full-time 
weekly 

Retail  pricet 
of  food 

Purchasing  power  measured 
by  retail  prices  of  food,  of 

Ttar 

Employes! 

per 
week 

how 

earnings 
per 
employee 

weighted  accord- 
ing to  family 
consumption 

Hourly 
wages 

Full-time 
weekly  earnings 
per  employee 

1890 

94.8 

100.7 

100.3 

101.0 

102.4 

97.9 

98.6 

1891 

97.3 

100.5 

100.3 

100.8 

103.8 

96.6 

97.1 

1892 

99.2 

100.5 

100.8 

101.3 

101.9 

98.9 

99.4 

1893 

99.4 

100.3 

100.9 

101.2 

104.4 

96.6 

96.9 

1894 

94.1 

99.8 

97.9 

97.7 

99.7 

98.2 

98.0 

1895 

96.4 

100.1 

98.3 

98.4 

97.8 

100.5 

100.6 

1896 

98.6 

99.8 

99.7 

99.5 

95.5 

104.4 

104.2 

1897 

100.9 

99.6 

99.6 

99.2 

96.3 

103.4 

103.0 

1898 

106.4 

99.7 

100.2 

99.9 

98.7 

101.5 

101.2 

1899 

112.1 

99.2 

102.0 

101.2 

99.5 

102.5 

101.7 

1900 

115.6 

98.7 

105.5 

104.1 

101.1 

104.4 

103.0 

1901 

119.1 

98.1 

108.0 

105.9 

105.2 

102.7 

100.7 

1902 

123.6 

97.3 

112.2 

109.2 

110.9 

101.2 

98.5 

1903 

126.5 

96.6 

116.3 

112.3 

110.3 

105.4 

101.8 

1904 

125.7 

95.9 

117.0 

112.2 

111.7 

104.7 

100.4 

1905 

133.6 

95.9 

118.9 

114.0 

112.4 

105.8 

101.4 

1906 

142.9 

95.4 

124.2 

118.5 

115.7 

107.3 

102.4 

1907 

144.4 

95.0 

128.8 

122.4 

120.6 

106.8 

101.5 

But  what  are  the  actual  conditions? 

The  Census  of  1900  showed  that  there  were  22,489,425 
men,  4,833,630  women,  and  1,264,411  boys  and  485,767 
girls  (under  16)  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  the 
United  States.3  This  mighty  army  of  workers  supports 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  77, 1908.  p.  7. 
1  See  article  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxiv,  pp.  300  ff. 
8  Census  Occupations,  p.  cxxxii. 


CHART  IX 

UTILIZATION  OF  PLANTS  AND  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS 
OF  ALL  EMPLOYEES  IN  WOOLEN  MANUFACTURES,  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS 

Solid  line  represents  the  per  cent  of  the  productive  capacity  of  all  manufacturing  plants 

actually  utilized. 
Dotted  line  represents  average  annual  money  wages  of  all  employees. 


$460 


5440 


$430 


$420 


$410 


5400 


$390 


S380 


?370 


52  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

15,963,965  private  families.1  As  there  are  only  13,150,671 
married  men  at  work,  2,813,294  of  these  private  families  — 
18  per  cent  of  them  —  could  not  possibly  have  been  sup- 
ported by  their  natural  heads.  There  was  an  average  of 
1.82  bread-winners  to  the  family  whose  mean  size  was  4.6. 
However,  the  number  of  married  women  who  are  at  work 
is  comparatively  small,  769,477,  or  15  per  cent,  of  the  fe- 
male wage-earners.  It  is  a  delightful  truth  that  in  nearly  all 
communities  the  mother  is,  as  far  as  possible,  spared  the 
hardships  of  industrial  toil.  The  evils  of  child  labor,  espe- 
cially in  manufacturing,  are  so  well  known  that  they  need 
no  elaboration  here.  In  the  broad  view,  the  labor  of  child- 
ren is  as  disastrous  and  as  dishonest  an  industrial  policy 
as  paying  dividends  out  of  capital  or  issuing  bonds  to  meet 
a  regularly  recurring  deficit  in  current  transactions.  Fur- 
thermore, child  labor  undoubtedly  so  lowers  the  wages  of 
men  that,  in  general,  the  total  family  income  in  industries 
employing  children  is  less  than  the  earnings  of  the  father 
alone  in  other  industries.2 

Passing  over,  then,  the  question  of  child  labor,  the 
women  in  industry  demand  some  attention.  Women  are 
impelled  to  seek  employment  by  two  motives  —  the  neces- 
sity of  supporting  themselves  or  others,  and  the  desire  for 
pin-money.3  Employers  engage  women  because  they  are 
"adaptable,  reliable,  easily  controlled,  temperate,  easily 
secured,  neat,  rapid,  industrious,  careful,  polite,  little 
prone  to  strike,  and  apt  to  learn."  In  all  these  particulars, 
it  is  said,  women  are  preferable  to  men.  Their  points  of 
superiority  may  be  expressed  in  two  words,  "cheapness" 
and  "docility."  That  it  is  cheaper  to  employ  women  than 
men  is  abundantly  proven  by  the  fact  that,  when  they  are 
on  an  equality  with  men  in  point  of  efficiency,  though  the 
women  are  given  higher  pay  in  16.5  per  cent  of  the  cases 

1  Abstract  from  Twelfth  Census  of  the  United  States,  1900,  p.  27. 

2  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  p.  140. 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1902,  p.  245. 


CHART  X 


PROGRESS    OF   WAGES   IN   MANUFACTURING   INDUSTRIES   IN 
MASSACHUSETTS   AND   NEW  JERSEY 

The  chart  is  based  on  data  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Labor  Bureaus  of  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Jersey. 

Solid  lines  show  percentage  of  adult  male  wage-earners  earning  less  than  specified  sum 
per  week  in  New  Jersey. 

Dotted  lines  show  percentage  of  adult  male  wage-earners  earning  less  than  specified  sum 
per  week  in  Massachusetts. 


95* 

85* 

80* 
75* 
70* 
65* 
60* 

50* 
45* 
40* 
35V 
30* 
26* 

ao* 

15* 
10* 


1S97  1898  1899  1900  1901  1902   1903  1904  1905  1906  1907  1908 


54  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

and  equal  remuneration  in  7.3  per  cent,  they  are  less  gen- 
erously compensated  by  76.2  per  cent  of  their  employers.1 
The  reasons  for  the  low  wages  of  women  are  patent.  They 
lack  in  efficiency;  physically,  women  cannot  work  as  hard 
or  as  long  as  men,  and,  probably,  they  are  more  often  ill ; 
they  frequently  work  on  products  of  little  value,  partly,  no 
doubt,  because  the  attitude  of  men  keeps  them  from  more 
remunerative  tasks;  and  they  seem  to  be  lacking  in  skill, 
resource,  or  initiative.  Moreover,  the  very  nature  of  their 
intellectual  processes  keeps  their  wages  down  —  they  are 
not  apt  for  organization,  but  are  more  submissive  than  men. 
The  potential  competition  of  the  large  number  of  women 
who  might  be  tempted  from  the  home  into  industry  by 
higher  wages  is  a  factor  of  no  mean  importance.  Again, 
women  can  live  on  a  lower  minimum  wage  than  men,  be- 
cause they  need  less  food,  and  because  their  earnings  — 
especially  the  pay  of  those  who  work  for  luxuries  or  for  the 
mere  pleasure  of  doing  something — are  often  subsidized. 
But  perhaps  the  greatest  fact,  in  that  it  embraces  many  of 
those  already  enumerated,  is  the  generally  realized  expect- 
ation of  most  women  that  they  will  not  work  long,  but  will 
soon  marry.2  They  do  not  fully  exert  themselves. 

It  is  often  held  that  the  entrance  of  women  upon  the  field 
of  industrial  labor  is  beneficial  to  society  in  that  it  allows 
men  to  work  at  other  things  and  thus  increases  the  total 
amount  of  production;  but,  in  the  light  of  the  statistics  of 
unemployment  presented  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  is 
probable  that  the  competition  of  women  does  actually 
displace  men  or,  at  least,  reduces  their  wages,  especially  in 
the  textile  trades.  That  industrial  labor  makes  woman 
a  more  efficient  administrator  in  the  home  or  gives  her  a 

1  llth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  30. 

J  E.  A.  Filene,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxvii,  p.  616.  One  half  the  women  in  the 
cotton  industry  at  the  ages  of  18  to  21  leave  before  their  twenty-fifth 
birthdays  —  the  majority  to  become  wives.  The  Survey,  vol.  xxiv, 
p.  652.  (Quoting  unpublished  federal  "Report  on  the  Cotton  Textile 
Industry.") 


CHART  XI 


Full-time  weekly  earnings 

Retail  prices  of  food  —  .  —  .  —  .  —  . 
Purchasing  power  full-time  weekly  wages 


.    1890  1891    1892  1893  IS 

94    1895  1896  1897    1898  1899  1900   1901   1902  I 

903  1904  1905  1906  190T 

_L_  _^  _  i_±  £±E  ±±:  ~  i£  — 

::::::::::   jSk  ::::: 

jjjjjjJih!!!!;!;;!! 

100  -r-  :  —  \\l\\  J-4 
98^7-  -A-  T~7 

97g|~  ~Y 

i!iijj!i:i!jj;jii!iii:!j!iiilll 

iiiiijiii  i|iiiiiiiiii 

;3t   ?    '•-   ** 

56  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

useful  way  of  passing  time  is  more  than  doubtful;  domestic 
economy  can  be  learned  only  by  practice;  if  repeating  one 
or  two  manual  motions  day  in  and  day  out  teaches  the 
value  of  cleanliness,  child  psychology,  or  the  art  of  cooking, 
wage-earning  by  prospective  mothers  benefits  the  home. 

In  contrast  to  these  possible  advantages  of  the  labor  of 
women,  there  are  certain  positive  evils.  In  writing  of  the 
188,578  girls  in  Pennsylvania  factories,  Dr.  Peter  Roberts 
says,  "The  textile  industries  are  not  self-supporting.  We 
are  safe  in  saying  that  50  per  cent  of  all  the  employees  in 
these  industries  expend  an  amount  of  energy  which  the  wages 
do  not  replace."  *  He  further  accuses  these  industries  of 
something  far  worse  —  dissipating  the  energy  of  succeed- 
ing generations.  Here  are  two  distinct  evil  results  of  the 
industrial  employment  of  women,  lower  wages  of  men,  and 
physical  deterioration  of  the  race.  Who  can  watch  the 
crowds  of  women  entering  the  factories  without  observing 
the  effects  —  unending  weariness,  stooped  shoulders,  sal- 
low complexions  ? 2  It  is  even  said  that  this  work  of  women 
induces  irregular  habits,  and  is  a  large  cause  of  sterility. 
Substantially  all  the  arguments  urged  against  child  labor 
apply  with  equal  force  to  the  toil  of  women.  The  Wiscon- 
sin Bureau  of  Labor  Report  aptly  sums  up  the  situation  in 
these  words: 

Unless  we  change  the  present  demoralizing  condition,  we  will 
continue  to  see  women,  worn  out  by  the  work  of  their  youth, 
unable  to  do  their  part  in  making  happy  and  successful  homes. 
Their  children,  if  not  given  better  opportunities,  go  through  the 
same  course  and  keep  up  the  circle  of  vicious  inefficiency.3 

The  object  of  this  chapter,  however  is  not  to  furnish  an 
argument  against  the  labor  of  women,  but  to  find  what 
incomes  are  actually  enjoyed  by  industrial  families. 

1  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  442  (1904).        2  See  The  Woman  Who  Toils. 

*  13th  Biennial  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industrial  Statis- 
tics of  Wisconsin,  quoted  in  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  88, 
p.  852. 


INCOMES 

PEE   CENT    OP    FAMILIES    HAVING    INCOME    FROM 
VARIOUS    SOURCES 


Minimum  Dependent 

Solely  on  Husband 

36.74% 


Maximum  Dependent  on. 
Husband  and  another  Source 


58  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Though  both  women  and  children  form  an  important  part 
of  the  present  labor  force,  men  are  the  great  providers,  and 
it  is  they  who  merit  most  thorough  attention.  Among  the 
25,440  families  canvassed  in  the  18th  Annual  Report  of 
the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  99.28  per  cent 
of  the  husbands  were  at  work,  .57  per  cent  were  invalids, 
and  .15  per  cent  idle,  but  only  8.68  per  cent  of  the  wives 
contributed  to  the  income.1  Table  xix  shows  the  sources 
of  the  incomes  enjoyed  by  these  families. 

TABLE  XIX* 

SOURCES   OF   FAMILY   INCOME 

Per  cent  of  families  having 
Source  of  income  income  from  specified  IOUTC* 

Wife  8.54 

Children  22.19 

Boarders  and  Lodgers  23.26 

Other  sources  (except  husband)  14.35 

Total  68.34 

Less  families  having  no  husband  4.08 
Largest  possible  per  cent  of  families  having 

income  from  husband  and  one  other  source  64.26 
Smallest  possible  per  cent  of  families  dependent 

solely  on  husband  for  support  35.74 

In  this  table  it  appears  that  at  least  35.74  per  cent  of 
the  families  must  have  been  dependent  on  the  father  alone 
for  support.  It  is  highly  probable  that  in  many  families 
income  was  received  both  from  the  earnings  of  the  child- 
ren and  from  boarders  or  lodgers.  Therefore  it  is  entirely 
safe  to  say  that  fathers  bore  the  entire  financial  burdens 
of  more  than  35.74  per  cent  of  these  households.  This 
conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  data  in  Table  xx.  In 
1890  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor  studied  the 
family  life  of  the  employees  in  the  cotton,  woolen,  and 
glass  industries.  From  their  results  it  is  calculated  that 
the  father  was  the  only  bread-winner  in  23.1  per  cent  of 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  236. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  362. 


INCOMES 


TABLE  XX 


THBEE 


Source  of  income 

Cotton 

Woolen 

Glass 

All 

No.  F.» 

%F. 

No.F. 

%F. 

NO.F. 

%F. 

NO.F. 

%F. 

Husband 

496 

23.1 

452 

49.6 

818 

64.1 

1766 

40.6 

and  wife 

170 

8.0 

54 

5.9 

19 

1.5 

243 

4.5 

"        and  children 

483 

22.6 

127 

13.9 

144 

11.3 

754 

17.4 

and  other  sources  316 

14.8 

137 

15.0 

213 

16.7 

666 

15.4 

"        wife  and 

children 

41 

1.9 

8 

.9 

3 

.2 

52 

1.2 

children  and 

other 

359 

16.8 

81 

8.9 

69 

5.4 

509 

11.7 

wife  and  other 

52 

2.4 

7 

.8 

3 

.2 

62 

1.4 

wife,  children 

and  other 
Total  families  in  any 
wise  dependent  on 
husband 

15 

.1 

2 

.2 

2 

.2 

19 

.4 

1932 

89.7 

868 

95.2 

1271 

99.6 

4071 

92.6 

Total  families  dependent 
on  industry 

2132 

911 

1276 

4319 

ail  families  dependent  on  the  cotton  industry,  49.6  per 
cent  on  the  woolen,  and  64.1  per  cent  on  the  glass  (in- 
cluding fatherless  families).  As  these  are  all  industries  in 
which  women  and  children  are  largely  employed,  it  may 
be  concluded  that  the  father  is  the  sole  support  in  at  least 
45  per  cent  of  families.  Uncertain  as  the  average  is,  it  de- 
serves respectful  consideration,  for  Dr.  Chapin  found  that 
46.8  per  cent  of  the  families  included  in  his  study  were  so, 
supported. 

According  to  the  Census  of  Manufactures,  the  4,244,538 
men  engaged  in  manufacturing,  in  1905,  received  an  aver- 
age income  of  $533.93.3  In  Montana,  in  1900,  the  mean 
earnings  of  the  9718  industrial  workmen  who  reported 

1  Based  on  figures  in  7th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
1891,  vol.  ii,  part  iii,  pp.  1735-1770. 
1  F  =  families. 
1  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905,  vol.  i,  p.  bod  (calculated). 


60  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

were  $807;  in  North  Dakota,  2168  men  averaged  $535; 
Minnesota  recorded  66,889  workmen  at  an  average  of  $492; 
and  Wisconsin  120,131,  averaging  $449. l  Adams  and  Sum- 
ner  say  that  one  hah*  the  male  city  factory  operatives  earn 
less  than  $480  a  year.2  But  before  attempting  to  fix  the 
typical  wages  for  the  industrial  workers,  it  may  be  well  to 
glance  at  some  of  the  larger  businesses. 

A  great  deal  of  capital  is  invested  in  steam  railroads. 
What  can  be  said  of  the  income  of  their  employees — the  men 
who  annually  make  such  a  sacrifice  of  life  and  suffering  to 
the  cause  of  material  progress?  In  1908,  the  New  Jersey 
roads  employed  some  42,514  men  at  an  average  annual 
wage  of  $657.22.3  Assuming  that  hi  this  profession  the 
same  proportion  of  men  are  employed  at  $10,  or  less,  per 
week  as  in  other  industries  in  which  the  average  annual 
remuneration  is  about  the  same,  11,400  of  these  men 
received  less  for  their  year's  work  than  $520.  In  Indiana 
during  1906,  1870  conductors  earned  an  average  of 
$1084.93;  2287  engineers,  of  $1284.69;  4408  station  men, 
of  $508.37;  and  88,967  trackmen,  of  $378.93.4  In  Maine 
the  mean  earnings  of  railway  hands,  including  all  save 
officers,  was  $559.15.6  Of  13,796  railway  men  in  North 
Carolina,  in  1905,  11,295  were  employed  in  occupations 
where  the  average  pay  was  less  than  $1.62  per  day,  or  $500 
per  year.6  There  are  over  three  hundred  thousand  track 
laborers  in  the  United  States,7  whose  wages  vary  from  an 
average  of  $1.50  in  New  England  to  $1.03  in  the  South- 
east. They  are  mostly  foreigners,  and,  in  view  of  their 
liability  to  unemployment,  it  is  doubtful  if  many  of  them 
earn  $450  per  annum.  In  1908  the  railroads  of  the  United 
States  employed  61,215  firemen  at  an  average  per  diem 

1  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  vol.  xi,  pp.  107  and  104. 

*  Adams  and  Sumner,  The  Labor  Problem,  p.  159. 

*  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  and  Industries,  1907,  p.  133. 
4  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  72,  p.  588. 

*  Ibid.,  no.  74,  p.  174  (calculated). 

8  Ibid.,  no.  68,  p.  147  (calculated).  7  Ibid.,  no.  72,  p.  434. 


INCOMES  61 

compensation  of  $2.64;  57,668  enginemen  at  $4.45;  43,322 
conductors  at  $3.81;  114,580  other  trainmen  at  $2.60; 
41,419  section  foremen  at  $1.95;  299,448  other  trackmen  at 
$1.45;  and  46,221  switch  tenders  and  crossing  watchmen  at 
$1.78.1  The  pay  of  general  officers  usually  continues  during 
their  illness  or  vacation;  that  of  the  other  help,  more 
numerous  but  less  highly  compensated,  ceases  during  un- 
employment, whatever  the  cause. 

Closely  associated  with  the  railroads  are  the  coal-mines. 
The  average  earnings  of  Michigan  coal-miners  in  1908  was 
$720. 2  The  30,742  Illinois  miners  in  1906,  though  their 
mean  daily  wages  were  $2.54,  worked  only  189.6  days  and 
earned  but  $480. 32. 3  Ohio  miners,  of  whom  there  were 
38,671  in  1904,  fared  slightly  better,  earning  on  the  aver- 
age $496.60.4  The  Indiana  returns  for  1903  show  all  grades 
of  mean  earnings,  from  pumpmen  who  worked  365  days  at 
$2.20,  and  foremen  who  received  $975  per  year  each,  to 
trappers  working  215  days  at  $1.13.5  Less  than  $500  was 
earned  by  46.5  per  cent  and  between  $500  and  $600  by 
24.24  per  cent  of  the  Illinois  miners  in  1904.6  In  1908,  the 
anthracite  miners  in  Pennsylvania  enjoyed  an  average  in- 
come of  $673.34;  they  numbered  43,482,  but  the  average 
remuneration  of  all  the  176,377  employees  was  $496.13. 
Bituminous  workers  were  less  fortunate  that  year,  miners 
averaging  $447,  and  all  employees,  $458.29.7  The  year 
previous,  however,  bituminous  pay  was  better,  and  the 
average  compensation  of  all  bituminous  workers  was 
$546.96,  but  this  was  unusual.8  Dr.  Peter  Roberts,  in  the 
first  chapter  of  his  "Anthracite  Coal  Communities,"  writes 

1  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Statistics  of  Railroads,  1908,  pp.  41 
and  47. 

2  Michigan  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industrial  Statistics,  1909,  p.  402. 
Illinois  Coal  Report,  1906,  p.  93. 

Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  62,  p.  295. 
Ibid.,  no.  71,  p.  330. 

Illinois  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1904,  p.  150. 
Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  88,  p.  845. 
Ibid.,  no.  75,  p.  605. 


62  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

that  143,820  employees,  representing  families  comprising 
450,000  individuals,  are  engaged  in  anthracite  mining. 
Although  the  average  household  consists  of  four  or  five 
members,  the  contract  miners,  25  per  cent  of  all,  receive 
about  $600  apiece,  while  other  adult  workers,  at  least  60 
per  cent  of  all,  earn  only  $450  each.1 

The  clothing  trade  need  not  be  treated  at  such  length. 
In  30  Maine  clothing  factories  in  1905,  234  men  received 
wages  averaging  $10.82  per  week;  1078  women  earned  a 
mean  weekly  wage  of  $6.78.2  In  1894,  the  yearly  remuner- 
ation of  the  garment-makers  in  New  York  ranged  from 
$249.94  for  knee-pants-makers  to  $402  for  cap-makers;  and 
the  male  machine  operators  and  handworkers  of  Chicago 
earned,  on  the  average,  $430  and  $325,  respectively,  the 
average  recompense  of  all  male  workers  in  the  cloak- mak- 
ing trades  being  $330. 42.3  But  these  figures  must  not  be 
considered  of  great  general  importance. 

The  organized  laborers  in  New  York  City  are,  perhaps, 
better  off  in  respect  to  wages  than  any  other  large  class  of 
workers.  In  1905  the  mean  earnings  of  men  was  $815.4  In 
1906  their  average  income  in  the  first  and  third  quarters  of 
the  year  was  $437.62,  or  a  rate  which  is  equivalent  to  $875 
per  annum.8  In  the  first  quarter  of  1904,  7.5  per  cent 
earned  under  $75,  27.5  per  cent  between  $75  and  $149,  41.7 
per  cent  between  $150  and  $225,  and  23.3  per  cent  over 
$225. 6  In  the  third  quarter  of  that  year  even  more  en  joyed 
the  higher  incomes.  There  are  now  about  400,000  men  in 
these  trades  unions. 

Recently  arrived  immigrants  have  varying  fortune  in  the 
wages  that  they  receive.  Many  Italians,  Poles  and  Lithu- 
anians work  twelve  hours  a  day  in  Pittsburg  for  $1.65  to 

1  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  p.  346. 

*  Maine,  19th  Annual  Report,  p.  100. 

1  Eaton,  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  iv,  pp.  141  to  174. 

*  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1905,  p.  cxlviii. 

5  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  75,  p.  598. 

6  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1904,  p.  Iv. 


INCOMES  68 

$1.98.  Some  Croatians  have  even  offered  their  labor  for 
$1.20  daily,  and  Italians  and  Slovaks  have  been  actually 
hired  at  $.90;  on  the  other  hand,  some  earn  as  high  as  $70 
in  two  weeks.1  In  1905,  a  New  York  City  firm  employed 
500  Sicilians  at  $1.75  a  day,  and  the  padrone  agencies 
found  in  the  Northern  States  positions  for  12,536  Italians 
at  not  more  than  $1.50.2  The  average  wages  for  Italians 
that  year,  employed  through  these  agencies,  was  $1.46; 
Slavs  and  Hungarians  commanded  the  same  sum,  and 
other  nationalities  fell  to  $1.41  per  day.3 

Among  textile  operatives  wages  reach  a  low  ebb.  In  1900 
the  average  earnings  of  male  cotton  operatives  was 
$405.69  in  Massachusetts,  $243.34  in  Georgia,  $216.39  in 
North  Carolina,  and  $207.58  in  South  Carolina.  The  9679 
New  Hampshire  men  who  worked  in  cotton  factories  in 
1906  earned  an  average  of  $417.31.4  In  the  four  Southern 
States  above  mentioned  the  regular  pay  of  men  seems 
never  to  surpass  $10.50  per  week,  even  for  bosses;  $7  is 
high,  and  some  men  actually  work  six  days  for  $4.20.  The 
average  earnings  of  the  145,718  adult  male  cotton  operat- 
ives enumerated  in  the  Census  of  Manufactures  was  $358, 
varying  from  $522  in  Pennsylvania  to  $283  in  Georgia. 
Men  in  the  woolen  mills  received  a  little  more,  $447,  and 
silk  afforded  even  greater  remuneration,  $472  per  year;  but 
there  are  only  27,037  men  working  in  the  silk  mills  and 
44,452  in  the  woolen.  At  boot-  and  shoe-making  95,257 
men  were  able  to  secure  a  mean  income  of  $528. 5 

These  averages,  however,  do  not  tell  the  whole  story.  It 
is  important  to  know  how  many  men  are  employed  at  each 
wage  rate.  Mr.  A.  E.  James  calculated  from  the  Dewey 
Report6  that  19.64  per  cent  of  the  adult  male  factory 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  pp.  538-39. 

2  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  72,  pp.  461,  427,  etc.  (calculated). 
»  Ibid.,  no.  72,  p.  426. 

*  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  71,  p.  338  (calculated). 

1  Census  of  Manufactures,  vol.  iii,  pp.  48,  138,  181,  246  (calculated). 

*  12th  Census,  Special  Report  on  Employees  and  Wages. 


<H  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

operatives  receive  less  than  $8,  42.61  per  cent  less  than  $10, 
and  59.26  per  cent  less  than  $12  per  week.1  He  also  says 
that  there  seems  to  be  a  mode  or  fashion  in  wages.  There 
are  large  groups  paid  $12  and  $9  per  week.  In  fact,  he 
says,  "the  typical  male  American  factory  worker  may  per- 
haps be  said  to  be  shown  by  the  Dewey  Report  to  be  the 
man  who  receives  $1.50  a  day."  2  In  the  Appendix  will  be 
found  some  tables  grouping  wage-earners  and  constructed 
on  a  cumulative  plan. 


TABLE  XXI 

PER  CENT  OF  THE  ADULT  MALES  ENGAGED  IN  MANUFACTURING,  WHO 
RECEIVED  LESS  THAN  $3,  $6,  $9,  $12  OR  $15  PER  WEEK  IN  SPECIFIED 
STATE  AND  TEAR 

Year    Under  $3   Under  $6    Under  99      Under  $12 
California 

1.  San  Francisco  1906'  .29 
.11 
.57 


2.  Small  cities 
New  Jersey 
Missouri 
Illinois 

Massachusetts 
Wisconsin 


1906 
1906 
1904 
1904 
1906 
1904 


.54 


4.43 

19.40 

63.40 

79.35 

8.47 

20.92 

39.23 

58.55 

8.28 

27.03 

57.49 

73.70 

6.97 

19.504 

58.05 

77.17 

21.76 

31.15 

4.16 

25.35 

55.12 

75.02 

7.20 

23.99 

67.95 

85.48 

Table  xxi  shows  the  percentage  of  wage-earners  for 
California  cities,  and  the  percentage  of  adult  males  en- 
gaged in  manufacture  in  five  other  states,  who  earn  less 
than  $3,  less  than  $6,  less  than  $9,  less  than  $12,  and 
less  than  $15  per  week.  Considering  the  wide  variety  of 
location  and  of  industry  in  these  states,  there  is  a  re- 

1  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  x,  p.  332  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  340. 

*  All  employees  (includes  women  and  children  and  is  not  confined  to 
factories). 

4  Interpolated— $6-$8  equals  10.12  percent;  $8-$10,  18.92  per  cent. 
See  California  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  12th  Biennial  Report,  p.  88  ff.; 
New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1907,  p.  118;  27th  Annual  Report,  Mis- 
souri Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  and  Inspection,  p.  181  ff ;  Illinois  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  1904,  p.  113;  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistic*  of  Labor, 
1907,  p.  360;  Wisconsin  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1904,  p.  294.  (Refer- 
ences are  for  data  from  which  this  table  was  compiled.) 


INCOMES  65 

markable  similarity  in  the  figures.  About  half  of  one  per 
cent  earn  less  than  $6;  19  per  cent  to  27  per  cent  earn 
less  than  $9.  This  is  really  appalling.  If,  as  is  perfectly 
justifiable  in  the  light  of  Chapter  in,  an  allowance  of 
two  weeks  is  made  for  unemployment,  one  fourth  of  the 
full-grown  men  in  next  to  the  most  important  branch  of 
American  economic  life  earn  less  than  $450  a  year,  and 
over  hah*  —  well  up  toward  60  per  cent  —  receive  less 
than  $600.  The  course  of  wages  in  Massachusetts  and 
New  Jersey,  as  shown  by  the  proportionate  membership 
of  various  wage  groups,  for  a  series  of  years,  has  already 
been  traced  in  the  curves  of  Chart  x  (page  53), 1  wherein 
it  appears  that  although  Massachusetts  had  a  setback 
in  1904,  due,  probably,  in  part  to  a  change  of  basis  for  the 
data,  there  is  in  progress  a  constant  improvement. 

The  most  satisfactory  wage  statistics,  however,  are  those 
published  as  Bulletin  no.  93  of  the  permanent  Census 
Bureau.  In  1904,  an  investigation  was  made  of  123,703,  or 
62.9  per  cent,  of  the  manufacturing  establishments,  and 
3,297,819,  or  47  per  cent,  of  the  wage-earners  employed 
during  the  busy  week.2  The  crowning  achievement  of  this 
investigation  was  the  schedule  copied  as  Table  xxn  in 
this  essay. 

Assuming  fifty  weeks  as  the  normal  working  year,  this 
table  shows  92,535  grown  men  earning  less  than  $3  per 
week,  or  $150  per  year;  338,635  receiving  less  than  $5 
weekly,  or  $250  annually;  1,116,199  paid  no  more  than  $8 
a  week,  or  $400  per  annum;  2,009,914  who  are  compen- 
sated at  less  than  $10  per  week,  or  $500  yearly;  and 
2,664,349  who  are  not  considered  worth  more  than  $12  a 
week,  or  $600  a  year,  to  their  employers.  To  these  can  be 
added  at  least  half  a  million  coal-miners  and  railroad 
hands,  with  the  result  that  in  manufacture,  transportation, 
and  mining  over  three  million  men,  about  half  of  whom 
bear  the  entire  burden  of  supporting  their  families,  are 

1  See  Appendices  A  and  B.  2  Census  Bulletin,  no.  93,  p.  10. 


66 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


TABLE  XXII 


ESTIMATED  DISTRIBUTION  BY  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OF  AVERAGE  NUMBER  O9 
ALL   WAGE-EARNERS,    AND   MEN,    WOMEN,  AND   CHILDREN,    1905  l 


Weekly  earning! 

All  Wage-earneri 

Men  16  years  and  over 

Number 

Percentage 
in  group* 

Cumulative 
percentage 

Number 

Percentage 
in  groups 

Cumulative 
percentage 

Less  than  $3 

225,793 

4.1 

100.0 

92,535 

2.2 

100.0 

$3  to  $4 

264,626 

4.8 

95.9 

96,569 

2.3 

97.8 

4  to    5 

340,113 

6.2 

91.1 

149,531 

3.5 

95.5 

5  to    6 

863,693 

6.7 

84.9 

177,550 

4.2 

92.0 

6  to    7 

454,285 

8.3 

78.2 

272,288 

6.4 

87.8 

7  to    8 

453,203 

8.3 

69.9 

327,726 

7.7 

81.4 

8  to    9 

423,689 

7.8 

61.6 

336,669 

7.9 

73.7 

9  to  10 

619,465 

11.3 

53.8 

557,046 

13.1 

65.8 

10  to  12 

708,858 

13.0 

42.5 

654,435 

15.4 

52.7 

12  to  15 

741,036 

13.5 

29.5 

714,816 

16.9 

37.3 

15  to  20 

618,314 

11.3 

16.0 

609,797 

14.4 

20.4 

20  to  25 

171,844 

8.1 

4.7 

170,571 

4.0 

6.0 

25  and  over 

85,402 

1.6 

1.6 

85,005 

2.0 

2.0 

Total 

5,470,321 

100.0 

4,244,538 

100.0 

Women  16  yean  and  over 

Children  under  16  yean 

Less  than  $3 

77,826 

7.3 

100.0 

55,432 

34.7 

100.0 

$3  to  $4 

115,741 

10.9 

92.7 

52,316 

32.7 

65.3 

4  to    5 

158,926 

14.9 

81.8 

31,656 

19.8 

32.6 

5  to    6 

173,713 

16.3 

66.9 

12,430 

7.8 

12.8 

6  to    7 

176,224 

16.5 

50.6 

5,773 

3.6 

5.0 

7  to    8 

124,061 

11.7 

34.1 

1,416 

0.9 

1.4 

8  to    9 

86,467 

8.1 

22.4 

553 

0.3 

0.5 

9  to  10 

62,193 

5.8 

14.3 

226 

0.1 

0.2 

10  to  12 

54,340 

6.1 

8.5 

83 

0.1 

0.1 

12  to  15 

26,207 

2.5 

3.4 

13 

(a) 

(a) 

15  to  20 

8,516 

0.8 

0.9 

1 

(a) 

(a) 

20  to  25 

1,273 

0.1 

0.1 

25  and  over 

397 

(a) 

(a) 

Total           1,065,884 

159,899 

(a)  Less  than  one  tenth  of  1  per  cent. 

unable  to  command  incomes  of  $600  per  year.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  persons  occupied  in  the  mechanical  pur- 
suits, three  fourths  of  those  engaged  in  trade  and  transport- 
ation, and  all  those  interested  in  the  field  of  domestic  and 
personal  service,  in  fact  about  one  half  of  the  men  more  or 
1  Census  Bulletin,  no.  93,  p.  13. 


INCOMES  67 

less  directly  connected  with  manufacturing  and  urban  pur- 
suits, have  been  left  entirely  out  of  this  account.  It  would 
be  conservative  to  estimate  the  number  of  adult  males, 
usually  classed  as  industrial  workers  and  persons  engaged 
in  personal  service,  who  receive  less  than  $600  a  year  for 
their  labor,  at  five  million.  Again,  by  multiplying  the 
figures  for  persons  engaged  in  manufactures,  some  of  the 
building  trades,  coal-mining,  clerks  in  trade  and  transport- 
ation, and  bartenders,  and  of  the  railway  employees,  as 
classified  in  the  abstract  of  the  Twelfth  Census  and  the 
Statistical  Report  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
(figures  of  1900),  by  the  percentages  which  may  be  readily 
calculated  from  those  given  by  the  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
it  is  developed  that  4,979,000  adult  males  are  employed  at 
less  than  $12  a  week,  the  equivalent  of  $600  a  year.1  Since 
many  trades  are  not  mentioned  at  all  in  this  computation, 
it  is  safe  to  consider  the  five  million  before  mentioned  as 
a  conservative  estimate  of  the  number  of  male  industrial 
workers  who  do  not  earn  $600  a  year.  Professor  Ryan 
wrote,  "the  conclusion  seems  justified  that  at  least  60  per 
cent  of  male  workers  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States  are 
to-day  (1905)  receiving  less  than  $600  annually."  2 

Many  families,  however,  have  other  sources  of  income 
than  the  father.  Of  the  families  having  children,  treated  in 
the  Eighteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Labor,  30.73  per  cent  of  those  in  Connecticut 
and  57.85  per  cent  of  those  in  Georgia  sent  some  of  their 
children  to  work.  Children  formed  4.7  per  cent  of  all 
workers  in  this  canvass,  and  22.19  per  cent  of  the  house- 
holds had  incomes  from  their  labor.  Women  made  con- 
tributions to  the  resources  of  8.54  per  cent  of  the  families; 
boarders  and  lodgers  increased  spending  power  in  23.26 
per  cent  of  the  class;  and  other  sources  supplied  funds  in 
14.35  per  cent.3  The  result  was  that,  whereas  the  average 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  283. 
*  A  Living  Wage,  p.  162.  *  See  Table  xxn. 


68  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

earnings  of  heads  of  families  were  $621.12,  the  average 
family  income  was  $749.50.1  Of  the  normal  families,  21.2 
per  cent  had  incomes  of  less  than  $500  and  41.52  per  cent 
of  less  than  $600. 2  In  the  Massachusetts  investigation  of 
1901,  it  was  found  that  of  the  152  families,  127  considered 
it  necessary  to  augment  the  earnings  of  the  father,  raising 
the  average  income  in  a  manner  still  more  notable,  from 
$594  to  $877.84.3  The  incomes  of  families  of  Maine 
laborers,  in  1900,  averaged  $500.25,  of  bleachery  employees 
$449.06,  and  of  machinists  $602.93.4  In  1891  the  average 
income  of  2132  households  dependent  on  the  cotton  in- 
dustry was  $657. 76. 5  On  the  other  hand,  there  were 
probably  hi  St.  Paul,  in  1906, 1000  families  that  could  not 
obtain  $300  for  their  labor.6  A  generalization  as  to  the 
incomes  of  American  industrial  households  seems  impos- 
sible, but  the  most  comprehensive  results  so  far  obtained, 
those  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  place  the  resources  of  41.52 
per  cent  of  normal  families  below  $600,  and  of  21  per  cent 
below  $500. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  57. 

9  Ibid.,  p.  583  (calculated). 

*  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1901,  p.  281  ff. 

4  Maine  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1900,  p.  24  ff. 

6  7th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  vol.  ii,  p.  851. 

6  David  Morgan,  N.  C.  C.  C.,  1907,  p.  366. 


CHAPTER  V 

HOUSING 

IN  the  chapter  on  budgets  it  was  shown  that  providing  a 
home  is  one  of  the  most  serious  of  the  problems  of  the  work- 
ing people.  They  do  not  exaggerate  the  importance  of  a 
suitable  habitation,  for  upon  it  depends  to  a  large  extent 
the  comfort  of  their  lives.  A  good  house  is  something  more 
than  a  shelter  from  wind  and  wet:  it  should  invite  the 
inflow  of  enough  good  air  for  ventilation;  it  should  wel- 
come the  drying,  cheering  sunlight;  it  should  facilitate  the 
sanitary  disposal  of  waste  materials;  it  should  encourage 
cleanliness  by  making  neatness  possible;  and  it  should  be 
well  supplied  with  water.  To  meet  the  demands  of  physical 
life  alone,  every  one  of  these  requirements  must  be  ful- 
filled, but  the  dwelling  must  undergo  severe  criticism  on 
another  basis.  Unless  the  habitation  has  a  room  fit  for  the 
entertainment  of  company,  social  intercourse,  with  all  its 
importance  for  pleasure  and  culture,  is  embarrassed.  More 
vital  than  either  of  these  functions  of  the  house  is  the 
opportunity  it  affords  for  home  life.  Home  should  be 
the  pleasantest  place  for  the  children  to  pass  their 
time,  should  be  the  force  that  makes  their  moral  nature 
strong. 

There  is  a  minimum  of  food  without  which  the  human 
animal  will  starve,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the 
squalor  that  may  characterize  his  habitation.1  On  the 
other  hand,  "Generally  speaking,  those  who  rent  homes, 
whether  the  same  be  private  residences,  flats  in  modern 
apartment  houses,  or  rooms  in  ordinary  tenements,  are 
sure  to  secure  the  very  best  that  even  by  pinching  in  other 
1  Forman,  N.  C.  C,  C..  1906,  p.  345. 


70  THE  STANDAKD  OF  LIVING 

directions  their  means  can  be  made  to  cover."  r  Thus, 
though  poverty  can  and  often  does  drive  men  to  live  in  the 
meanest  hovels,  they  naturally  seize  the  first  opportunity 
to  move  to  better  quarters.  Your  friend  may  not  see  the 
holes  in  your  socks;  you  cannot  deceive  him  so  easily  if 
your  window  panes  are  broken.  So  pride  encourages  every 
man  to  hire  the  best  house  he  can  afford. 

Perhaps  because  it  is  so  big  physically,  the  tenement 
house  is  the  first  object  of  reform  in  most  communities  that 
attack  the  problem  of  homes.  A  tenement  house,  in  the 
law,  is  generally  a  building  occupied  by  three  or  more 
families  living  independently  of  each  other  and  doing  their 
cooking  on  the  premises.  On  Manhattan  Island  alone, 
there  were,  in  1900,  42,700  of  these  structures  inhabited  by 
some  367,461  families,  comprising  1,585,000  persons.  The 
mean  size  of  households  was  4.31  individuals,  and  there 
were,  on  the  average,  7.78  families  to  the  house.2  So 
densely  was  the  city  populated  that  16,647  of  these  houses 
were  inhabited  by  40  or  more  persons  each,  and  22,996  by 
30  or  more.3  This  great  development  of  tenement  houses 
seems  to  be  necessitated  by  the  rapid  increase  of  popula- 
tion in  the  city;  it  is  difficult  to  provide  proper  accommo- 
dation for  all  the  people,  and  so  rents  are  placed  outrage- 
ously high.  One  result  is  the  "rent  strike "  which  occurs 
every  year  or  two  on  the  lower  East  Side.  Another  result 
is  that  "the  poor  have  taken  lodgers,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  'one-room  family'  is  becoming  common  in  New 
York.  That  is,  where  a  flat  of  three  rooms  should  hold  one 
family,  it  is  made  to  hold  three,  so  that  together  they  may 
make  the  rent."  4  Something  of  the  exorbitance  of  these 
rents  was  revealed  in  the  chapter  on  budgets,  but  it  may 
be  well  to  cite  a  few  of  them.  Prices  for  apartments  vary 

1  Neio  Jersey  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  and  Industries,  1907,  p.  206. 
J  DeForest  and  Veiller,  Tenement  House  Problem,  vol.  i,  p.  211. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  212. 
4  Riis,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xviii,  p.  77. 


HOUSING  71 

with  the  location  in  the  city,  the  position  of  the  rooms  in 
the  house  (front  or  rear),  and  the  side  of  the  street.  In 
1900,  a  two-room  tenement  in  New  York  City  could  be 
hired  for  from  $8  to  $10  a  month,  three  rooms  at  $8  to  $15, 
four  rooms  at  $13  to  $17,  and  five  rooms  for  about  $23.  * 
Since  that  time  rentals  have  risen.  Many  families  plan  to 
keep  their  monthly  rent  exactly  equal  to  a  week's  wages 
and  move  to  better  or  worse  quarters  as  their  earnings  in- 
crease or  decrease:  the  necessity  of  thus  devoting  approxi- 
mately 25  per  cent  of  the  income  to  securing  shelter  shows 
how  high  the  rents  really  are.2  Some  families  seem  to  have 
a  chronic  mania  for  moving;  oftentimes  they  "jump  the 
rent."  This  practice  is  another  factor  in  making  it  difficult 
for  honest  people  to  provide  for  their  needs  —  the  land- 
lord must  charge  heavily  for  his  risk. 

At  the  time  of  the  great  investigation  by  Veiller  and 
DeForest,  there  were  in  New  York  City  over  350,000  dark 
rooms  distributed  among  some  40,000  houses.3  Such  a 
room,  without  direct  communication  with  the  outside  air, 
is  unfit  for  a  sleeping-apartment;  in  fact,  its  right  to  exist 
for  any  purpose  can  well  be  questioned;  yet  here  were  those 
350,000  dark,  unventilated  chambers,  most  of  them  bed- 
rooms. Halls  and  cellars  were  dark  and  damp  and  dirty; 
airshafts  were  so  small  as  to  merit  the  epithet  "culture 
tubes  "  for  disease  germs;  water-supply  was  frequently  very 
inadequate.  Much  plumbing  was  chronically  in  acute  dis- 
order; the  water-closets,  inadequately  flushed,  were  often 
filthy  with  excreta  drying  on  the  wood-work,  and  were 
sometimes  papered  with  the  advertisements  of  quacks. 
Bathrooms  were  almost  unknown.4  There  is  more  truth 
than  humor  in  that  oft-repeated  phrase,  "he  uses  his  bath- 
tub for  a  coal-bin."  "In  New  York  only  306  people  out  of 

1  DeForest  and  Veiller,  Tenement  House  Problem,  vol.  ii,  p.  439. 

*  More,  Wage-Earners  Budgets,  p.  137. 

1  DeForest,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xi,  p.  356. 

4  Almost  all  of  these  facts  from  The  Tenement  House  Problem. 


72  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

255,033  considered  by  Mr.  Gilder's  committee,  and  only 
two  per  cent  of  the  population  studied  by  the  Bureau  of 
Labor,  had  access  to  baths  inside  the  houses  which  they 
occupied."  1 

The  complete  story,  however,  cannot  be  told  by  the 
sanitarian.  When  many  families  live  in  the  same  house, 
there  is  little  possibility  of  privacy.  If,  as  often  happened, 
the  only  source  of  water  was  a  hydrant  in  the  yard,  or,  at 
best,  a  faucet  in  the  hall,  there  was  a  strong  force  working  to 
breakdown  all  modesty.  Grown  girls  stripped  to  the  waist, 
would  go  to  the  sink  to  wash.  Not  simply  this :  in  the  tene- 
ment house  family  quarrels  are  public  property.  Every  one 
knows  when  his  neighbor  comes  home  drunk,  and  when  he 
beats  his  wife.  All  this  was  degrading;  but  far  worse  was 
the  great  evil  of  sexual  immorality.  Many  a  tenement 
house  harbored  a  prostitute,  who  made  no  secret  of  her 
profession.  Dangerous  to  young  men  she  certainly  was ;  her 
life  of  apparent  ease  was  even  more  a  snare  to  the  girls. 
Who  would  not  like  leisure  and  fine  clothes? 

Since  the  material  for  that  report  was  gathered,  New 
York  has  obtained  an  excellent  tenement -house  law.  For 
the  first  two  years  Robert  DeForest  was  its  administrator, 
and  so  well  did  he  enforce  it  that  there  has  been  very  sub- 
stantial improvement.  New  York  tenements  were  prac- 
tically freed  from  prostitutes  by  1903.2  The  sanitary  evils 
were  harder  to  deal  with,  but  the  grossest  have  been  cor- 
rected. The  case  of  this  great  city  is  cited  at  such  length  to 
illustrate  the  tendency  in  all  municipalities  if  housing  con- 
ditions are  not  closely  watched.  After  all,  the  problem  can 
be  summed  up  in  the  words  of  DeForest  and  Veiller,  "Ade- 
quate light,  air,  perfect  sanitation,  even  passable  home  en- 
vironment cannot  be  provided  by  the  best  tenement  house 
which  is  commercially  possible  on  Manhattan  Island."  * 

1  Committee  of  Fifty,  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon,  p.  211. 
*  DeForest,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xi,  p.  179. 


DeForest  and  Veiller,  The  Tenement  House  Problem,  vol.  i,  p.  5. 


HOUSING  73 

The  latest  data  on  the  subject  of  housing  in  New  York 
City  are  furnished  by  Dr.  Chapin.  In  most  quarters  of 
that  city  four-room  apartments  cost  more  than  $14  a 
month,  and  prices  are  not  much  lower  in  the  other  bor- 
oughs. *  Dark  rooms  are  still  so  common  as  to  be  included 
in  the  apartments  of  53  per  cent  of  the  families  with  in- 
comes of  over  $400,  and  of  38  per  cent  of  the  families 
with  incomes  over  $1100.  Not  more  than  a  quarter  of 
families  with  incomes  below  $1100  have  bathrooms,  and 
less  than  a  third  have  private  toilets.  Considering  a  fam- 
ily to  be  overcrowded  if  there  are  more  than  1H  persons 
to  the  room,  50  per  cent  of  all  the  households  canvassed 
were  overcrowded.  Surely,  if  there  has  been  improve- 
ment since  1900,  it  was  sorely  needed. 

However,  "it  is  only  in  very  large  cities  that  there 
exists  what  might  be  called  a  'tenement-house  problem,' 
although  in  nearly  every  city  there  is  a  housing  problem."  2 
In  the  typical  case,  some  fine  old  mansion,  abandoned  as 
its  old  tenants  moved  to  new  and  fashionable  neighbor- 
hoods, is  occupied  by  three  or  four  families;  the  germ  of  the 
tenement  system  has  found  lodgment;  and  unless  speedy 
steps  are  taken,  the  municipality  will  awake  some  day  to 
find  that  a  radical  reform  is  necessary  to  purify  its  slums. 
The  problems  of  city  life  are  almost  always  complicated  by 
the  country  people,  who  are  completely  ignorant  of  urban 
hygiene.  In  all  the  large  cities  of  New  York  State  —  Buf- 
falo, Albany,  Troy,  Syracuse,  and  Rochester  —  there  are 
housing  problems.3  Crossing  the  Hudson  brings  to  light  an 
interesting  condition.  The  New  York  law  was  so  well  en- 
forced that  many  sweatshops  were  driven  across  the  river 
into  New  Jersey.  There,  Jersey  City  has  tenement  houses 
as  noxious  as  those  in  Manhattan,  save  that  most  of  them 
are  of  a  more  primitive  type,  the  converted  dwelling.  In 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  75  ff. 

»  Veiller,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxv,  p.  251. 

*  Devine,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  vii,  p.  491. 


74  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

this  city  about  41  per  cent  of  the  families,  canvassed  in 
1902,  lived  in  apartments  of  three  rooms,  or  less,1  and 
"a  light  bedroom  is  more  the  exception  than  the  rule." 
In  9  per  cent  of  the  apartments  at  that  time  there  was 
a  ratio  of  2.5  persons  to  one  room.  Now,  however,  this 
state  has  an  excellent  tenement -house  law  and  a  vigilant 
commission  to  enforce  it.  Farther  south,  Philadelphia, 
with  its  rows  on  rows  of  attractive  four-  or  six-room 
dwellings,  still  has  troubles  of  its  own.  Although  it  is 
possible  to  hire  small  attractive  residences  for  from  $8  to 
$25  per  month,  and  only  1.44  per  cent  of  the  population 
live  in  tenement  houses,2  yet  there  is  great  crowding  in 
some  districts,  especially  in  the  Italian  quarter,3  and 
many  small  rear  dwellings  on  back  alleys  are  to  be  found.4 
Some  families  occupy  cellars,5  and  in  many  places  the 
ground  is  wretchedly  drained.  Obtrusive  privy-vaults  are 
often  in  evidence,6  and  sinks  not  infrequently  discharge 
into  the  yards.  Comparatively,  Philadelphia  is  very  for- 
tunate; absolutely,  however,  even  she  is  cursed  with 
noisome  housing  conditions. 

Other  cities  in  the  East  either  have  bad  housing  condi- 
tions or  are  threatened  with  such  trouble,  —  Baltimore,7 
Boston,8  and  Portland,9  for  example;  but  in  the  West  there 
is  one  tendency  toward  a  slightly  different  problem.  In 
Chicago,  for  instance,  near  the  stockyards,  there  exist 
street  after  street  of  dilapidated  shanties  absolutely  devoid 
of  apology  for  sanitary  arrangements.10  There  is  danger, 
too,  from  apartment  houses  that  threaten  to  become  as 
unwholesome  as  the  old  New  York  tenements.  Sometimes 
small  one-  or  two-story  buildings  are  used  by  three  or  four 

1  Sayles,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  139  ff.       2  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  Ill  ff. 

*  N.  C.  C.  C.,  1906,  p.  583.  «  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  116. 
5  Chanties  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xii,  p.  492. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  xiv,  p.  633. 

7  Ibid.,  vol.  xviii,  p.  137.  •  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  123. 

*  Maine  Bureau  of  Labor  and  Industrial  Statistics,  1907,  p.  160. 
10  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xv,  p.  455  ff. 


HOUSING  75 

families.1  Cincinnati,  also,  has  its  tenement  district,  with 
the  accompanying  dark  rooms,  and  dangerous  water- 
closets,  of  which,  in  one  district,  51  per  cent  were  found 
out  of  repair  at  an  inspection  in  1903.2  Tenements,  fewer 
than  those  in  New  York,  but  about  as  pernicious,  exist  in 
Milwaukee.3  In  1904,  one  third  of  Cleveland  tenement- 
house  families  had  only  one  sleeping-room  each,  and  in 
that  city  45  per  cent  of  the  apartments  harbored  three 
persons  to  a  bedroom.4  This  municipality,  having  re- 
cently adopted  a  new  law,  is  on  the  road  to  improvement. 

In  Washington,  in  1904,  there  could  be  found  many 
blind  alleys,  where  the  annual  death-rate  of  negro  babies 
was  457  per  1000. 5  "These  people  lived  in  pig-sties 
because  some  man  would  rather  have  25  per  cent  profit 
than  keep  his  soul."  Los  Angeles  has  a  "  Sonoratown," 
where,  in  the  inner  courts  of  the  fine  old  adobe  mansions,  the 
poor  of  Spanish  blood  inhabit  shacks  and  tents  and  sheds.8 
New  Orleans  possesses  its  "Little  Palermo,"  a  slum  in 
which  disease  finds  a  worthy  ally  in  the  hot  weather.7 
So  the  recital  could  continue,  mentioning  city  after  city, 
each  with  troubles  of  its  own,  different  in  kind  and  degree, 
but  alike  in  their  call  for  a  remedy.  Within  the  last  five 
years,  the  municipalities  have  been  waking  to  their  con- 
dition, and  passing  laws,  but  reform  is  slow  work. 

Take  Pittsburg  for  example:  "Last  winter  the  Pittsburg 
Survey,  cooperating  with  the  Bureau  of  Health,  con- 
ducted a  special  investigation  of  the  housing  situation  in 
Pittsburg.  Its  purpose  was  a  general  stock-taking  from 
the  point  of  view  of  sanitary  regulation.  Evil  conditions 
were  found  to  exist  in  every  section  of  the  city.  Over  the 
omnipresent  vaults,  graceless  privy-sheds  flouted  one's 

1  N.  C.  C.  C.,  1902,  p.  343  S. 

z  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  99  ff.;  N.  C.  C.  C..  1903,  p.  352. 

»  Wisconsin  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1906,  p.  309  ff. 

4  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xii,  pp.  846  ff.,  351. 

B  Ibid.,  vol.  xii,  p.  55. 

6  Ibid.,  vol.  xv,  p.  295.  7  Ibid.,  vol.  xv,  p.  152. 


76  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

sense  of  decency.  Eyrie  rookeries,  perched  on  the  hillsides, 
were  swarming  with  men,  women,  and  children,  —  entire 
families  living  in  one  room  and  accommodating  'boarders' 
in  a  corner  thereof.  Cellar  rooms  were  the  abiding-places 
of  other  families.  In  many  houses  water  was  a  luxury  to 
be  obtained  only  through  much  effort  of  toiling  steps  and 
straining  muscles.  Courts  and  alleys  fouled  by  bad  drain- 
age and  piles  of  rubbish  were  playgrounds  for  rickety, 
pale-faced,  grimy  children.  An  enveloping  cloud  of  smoke 
and  dust,  through  which  light  and  air  must  filter,  made 
housekeeping  a  travesty  in  many  neighborhoods ;  and  every 
phase  of  the  situation  was  intensified  by  the  evil  of  over- 
crowding —  of  houses  upon  lots,  of  families  into  houses, 
of  people  into  rooms."  1 

Since  that  survey,  a  tenement-house  law  has  been 
passed  and  fifty  thousand  people  have  been  supplied  with 
sanitary  accommodations.  Yet  "the  tenement-house  dwell- 
ings, for  three  or  more  families,  are,  when  all  is  said  and 
done,  but  a  small  part  of  the  homes  of  the  wage-earning 
population.  The  great  housing  problem  in  Pittsburg  is  that 
of  the  one-  or  two-family  dwellings.  Here  is  a  field  where 
even  more  exacting  sanitary  work  and  regulation  must  be 
done  in  the  ensuing  years."2  It  is  at  least  a  ten  years' 
task  to  make  all  the  dwellings  of  this  city  fit  for  human 
habitation. 

Such  is  the  situation  in  the  larger  cities;  everywhere 
there  are  unwholesome  housing  conditions,  evils  that  men 
often  attack,  but  which  are  strongly  intrenched.  "And 
yet  the  problem  of  the  better  housing  of  the  working 
people  exists  in  the  small  towns  and  villages  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  in  the  larger  cities."  Dr.  Bogart  has  shown  that 
Yonkers  had  just  as  hard  a  battle  to  fight,  with  slums  as 
pernicious  as  those  of  New  York  itself.3  The  New  Jersey 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  871. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  xxi,  p.  871. 

1  Economic  Studies,  vol.  iii,  passim. 


HOUSING  77 

Tenement  House  Commission  has  found  that  even  the 
hamlets  of  the  state  have  houses  which  in  many  cases  re- 
veal as  unsanitary  conditions  as  those  in  the  larger  cities.1 
An  investigation  by  Albion  F.  Bacon  revealed  extremely 
unsanitary  conditions  in  the  towns  of  Indiana.2  Thus  even 
the  smaller  communities  are  afflicted. 

At  the  risk  of  tediousness,  a  word  must  be  spoken  of 
the  homes  in  semi-rural  localities.  In  the  anthracite  coal 
district,  although  some  companies  provide  substantial 
dwellings  for  their  men,  others  rent  their  employees  shacks, 
assessed  on  the  tax-books  at  $10  to  $100,  for  $1.75  to  $3  per 
month.3  Some  of  the  miners  are  able  to  care  for  small 
gardens  of  their  own  and  live  in  private  houses,  well  built 
and  neatly  painted;  but  the  danger  of  "cave-ins"  is  so 
great  that  many  companies  dare  not  sell  land.  Other 
operators  desire  to  hold  title  so  that  in  case  of  strike  they 
may  be  in  a  position  to  discomfort  their  employees  by 
evicting  them  from  their  homes.  The  Lehigh  Coal  Com- 
pany has  adopted  a  more  liberal  policy,  and  about  27 
per  cent  of  its  employees  own  their  dwellings.  In  the 
Southern  mill  towns  conditions  are  about  at  their  worst. 
A  mill  will  own  a  group  sometimes  reaching  six  hundred 
cottages  which  it  will  rent  for  $.50  per  room  per  month, 
or  more.  The  rent  is  often  deducted  from  wages,  and  some- 
times includes  fuel  or  the  right  to  cut  firewood  in  the 
company  timber  lots.  Some  of  these  dwellings  are  neither 
sheathed,  plastered,  nor  papered,  and  the  tenants  suffer 
intensely  from  the  occasional  cold  weather.4  Of  these 
dwellings  Miss  Van  Vorst  writes:  "It  is  defamation  to  use 
the  word  'home'  in  connection  with  the  unwholesome 
shanty  in  the  pest-ridden  district  where  the  remnant  of 
the  children's  lives  not  lived  in  the  mill  is  passed.  This 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xiii,  p.  566. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  xxi,  p.  376. 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chap,  v,  pt.  i,  p.  125.  ' 

*  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor.  1905,  p.  68  ff. 


78  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

handful  of  unpainted  huts,  raised  on  stilts  from  the  soil, 
fever-ridden,  and  malarious;  this  blank  ugly  line  of  sun- 
blistered  shanties,  along  a  road,  yellow  and  deep,  is  a  mill 
village.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a  garden  within  miles,  not  a 
flower,  scarcely  a  tree."  l  In  conclusion  the  words  of  a 
United  States  Department  of  Labor  Inspector  may  fitly 
epitomize  the  situation.  In  1895,  Clare  de  Graffenried  said : 
"Almost  every  small  manufacturing  town  is  in  great  peril 
from  unnecessary  and  preventable  overcrowding.  —  Build- 
ings are  multiplied  on  the  smallest  spaces.  Barracks  are 
put  up  holding  from  ten  to  fifty  families,  in  which  as 
many  as  possible  of  the  foreign  element  congregate."  2 

No  discussion  of  housing  would  be  complete  without 
some  mention  of  the  boarder  and  the  lodger.  Young  men 
and  women,  who  are  attracted  to  the  city  from  the  country 
by  the  hope  of  earning  large  wages,  must  be  given  a  place 
to  sleep;  even  some  people  of  urban  descent  are  homeless 
and  are  compelled  to  find  rooms  among  strangers.  In 
many  municipalities,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion and  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  fur- 
nish dormitories  and  maintain  lists  of  reputable  places 
where  rooms  and  board  may  be  obtained.  Working-girls' 
clubs  exist  in  other  cities,  but  these  agencies  are  woefully 
inadequate  to  the  need.3  Ten  per  cent  of  the  women  of 
Pittsburg  live  in  lodging-houses;  paying  $.75  to  $1.00  per 
month  for  rent  and  cooking  and  dividing  the  food  ex- 
penses pro  rata  (about  $1.50  per  week) ;  from  one  to  twenty 
young  men  often  inhabit  a  single  small  dwelling  with  a 
boarding  boss  and  his  wife.4  In  Boston  25  per  cent  of 
those  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  trades, 
and  17  per  cent  of  those  occupied  in  domestic  service  and 
personal  service,  are  lodgers.6  In  1905  there  were  in  New 

1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  278. 

1  N.  C.  C.  C.,  1895,  p.  103. 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  15. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  541. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  xix,  p.  957  ff. 


HOUSING  79 

York  16,470  beds  in  licensed  lodging-houses  to  rent  at 
from  $.10  to  $.30  per  night.1  The  Eighteenth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  showed  that  in  the 
25,440  families  investigated,  native  Americans  have  one 
boarder  to  every  3.022  families,  and  one  lodger  to  every 
19.844,  while  the  corresponding  figures,  for  the  foreign-born 
are  2.495  and  9.244.2  Thus  5918,  or  over  23  per  cent  of 
the  households  canvassed,  took  boarders  or  lodgers,  deriv- 
ing therefrom  an  average  annual  revenue  of  $250.77.3 
The  reason  that  so  many  families  receive  these  strangers 
into  their  homes  is  that  rents  are  high  and  incomes  are  in- 
sufficient. Otherwise  so  many  households  would  not  sacri- 
fice their  own  privacy.  Of  course,  many  of  these  boarders 
are  unmarried  relatives,  who  can  hardly  be  called  outsid- 
ers; yet  the  fact  remains  that  many  are  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  their  landlords,  but  are  entire  strangers. 

Tenure  of  homes  is  another  important  consideration. 
The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  on  "The  Cost  of 
Living"  showed  that  19,090  families  rented  their  homes 
at  a  mean  yearly  cost  of  $116.55  or  $24.62  per  room.  The 
other  4357  families  owned  their  houses;  of  these  1243 
paid  an  average  of  $147.50  on  the  principal  of  mortgages 
and  2029  paid  an  average  of  $54.58  interest.4  The  mean 
expense  to  those  owning  encumbered  houses  was  $138.59, 
and  only  10.63  per  cent  of  all  families  owned  their  houses 
clear  of  encumbrance.5  Thus  it  was  found  less  expensive  to 
hire  a  dwelling  than  to  possess  a  mortgaged  building, 
though  the  hired  houses  had  only  4.73  rooms  on  the  aver- 
age and  the  owned  residences  5.92.  Basing  his  conclusions 
largely  on  the  figures  of  the  Twelfth  Census,  Mr.  Hunter 
says :  "  Probably  no  wage-earners  in  Manhattan  own  their 
homes,  and  in  several  other  large  cities  probably  99  per 

Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xiii,  p.  486  ff. 

18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  22  (calculated). 

Ibid.,  pp.  362,  366. 

Ibid.,  pp.  365-370. 

Ibid.,  p.  52  ff. 


80  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

cent  of  the  wage-earners  are  propertyless.  The  significant 
thing  in  this  lack  of  ownership  lies  in  the  fact  that  a  very 
large  majority,  probably  90  per  cent,  of  the  workingmen  in 
the  cities  and  industrial  communities,  are  propertyless." l 
So  far  this  chapter  has  been  a  mere  recital  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  homes  of  the  working  people,  residences 
of  the  lowest  class,  it  is  true,  but  buildings  which  shelter 
millions  of  laborers'  families.2  Doubtless  there  are  many 
better  dwellings  and  many  happy  households;  yet  there 
must  be  all  gradations  between  the  extremes  of  squalor  and 
comfort,  and,  therefore,  many  persons  must  be  doomed 
to  occupy  unwholesome  tenements.  What  is  the  result? 
Miss  Jane  Addams  says :  "  In  reality  the  idea  of  a  home 
reaches  back  so  much  further  than  the  four  walls,  and  is 
so  much  more  deeply  implanted  in  the  human  breast  than 
the  ownership  of  land  that  we  do  not  need  to  fear  a  new 
type  of  house  will  destroy  it."3  Her  belief  may  be  said  to 
find  some  confirmation  in  the  statistics  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor,  for,  of  the  homes  which  were  investigated 
in  1901,  it  was  found  that,  as  to  sanitation,  63.94  per  cent 
were  good,  29.33  per  cent  fair,  and  6.73  per  cent  bad;  as  to 
furniture,  64.16  per  cent  were  good,  25.84  per  cent  fair,  and 
10  per  cent  poor;  on  the  other  hand,  in  81.37  per  cent  clean- 
liness was  classed  as  good,  in  12.61  per  cent  as  fair,  and 
in  6.02  per  cent  as  bad.  Thus,  amid  sanitary  and  monetary 
handicaps,  people  strove  to  keep  their  houses  in  good  order.4 
Yet  Mr.  Gould  in  the  Eighth  Special  Report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  is  probably  nearer  the  truth: 
"There  need  be  no  caviling  as  to  the  relative  merits  of 
block  dwellings  and  small  individual  homes.  No  matter 
how  excellent  the  accommodation,  no  matter  what  pre- 
cautions are  taken  to  secure  self-containment  and  isola- 

1  Hunter,  Poverty,  p.  42;  see  also  Abstract  from  Twelfth  Census,  p.  133  ff. 
*  There  were  11,326,558  persons  living  in  houses  inhabited  by  11 
persons  or  more  in  1900.  Abstract  from  Twelfth  Census,  p.  27. 
1  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  102. 
4  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  21. 


HOUSING  81 

tion,  home  in  a  tenement  building  can  never  be  what  it  is 
where  a  single  roof  covers  a  single  family." *  "Those  who 
have  studied  bad  housing  find  in  it  one  of  the  worst  evils 
of  the  day."  2 

The  first  count  against  the  tenement  house  is  physio- 
logical. Perhaps  the  worst  effect  is  on  the  children:  "the 
overcrowding  of  tenements  is  an  excellent  reason  for  the 
late  hours  at  which  young  children  of  the  poor  go  to  bed; 
it  being  hardly  possible  for  the  children  to  sleep  in  the 
midst  of  work  and  talk,  until  they  are  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted. As  a  matter  of  fact,  children  of  four  and  five 
years  are  often  awake  until  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night."  8 
Such  late  hours  deprive  the  little  ones  of  needed  sleep, 
interfere  with  their  physical  growth,  and  injure  their 
nervous  development;  moreover,  life  in  overcrowded 
buildings  deprives  even  adults  of  an  adequate  opportunity 
of  recuperation.  So  hot  are  these  structures  in  summer 
that  comfort  is  sought  on  the  roofs  and  fire  escapes. 
"When  we  were  at  the  Board  of  Health  some  years  ago," 
said  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  "we  instituted  inquiries  in 
these  low  and  miserable  neighborhoods  to  find  what  was 
the  amount  of  labor  lost  in  a  year,  not  by  illness  but  by 
sheer  exhaustion  and  inability  to  do  the  work.  We  found 
upon  the  lowest  average  that  every  workman  or  work- 
woman lost  about  twenty  days  a  year  from  sheer  exhaus- 
tion."4 In  addition  to  the  devitalizing  influence  of  in- 
sufficient rest,  drainage  from  sinks  and  vaults  escaping 
onto  the  ground,  filthy  water-closets,  and  close  physical 
proximity  foster  germ  diseases.  Lack  of  proper  light  and 
ventilation,  faulty  bathing  facilities,  and  damp  cellars 
undermine  vitality  as  surely  and  as  silently  as  the  bacillus 
tuberculosis  waits  to  seize  every  opportunity  to  do  mis- 
chief. An  investigation  in  Berlin  some  years  ago  revealed 

1  8th  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  176. 

1  Bacon,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  382. 

*  City  Wilderness,  p.  67.  *  Quoted  in  Poverty,  p.  156. 


82  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

the  fact  that  the  death-rate  for  families  occupying  one 
room  was  163.5  per  thousand,  for  families  occupying  two 
rooms  22.5  per  thousand,  three  rooms  7.5,  and  four  rooms, 
or  more,  5.4.1  The  case  against  crowding  in  houses  on 
sanitary  grounds  is  fully  established. 

But  there  are  other  counts.  "It  may  be  taken  as  an 
axiom  that  if  you  make  the  workman's  home  comfortable, 
he  will  give  up  the  public  house  and  its  ruinous  conse- 
quences; and  that  when  the  workingman's  home  is  little 
better  than  a  pig-sty,  that  man  will  always  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  public  house  or  beer  shop."2  "Wherever 
corporations  furnish  unhealthy  home  surroundings,  the 
evils  of  intemperance  will  be  more  or  less  felt  in  all  the 
directions  in  which  the  results  of  ruin  find  their  wonderful 
ramifications." 3  When  two  such  authorities  as  E.  R.  L. 
Gould  and  Carroll  D.  Wright  agree  in  this  fashion,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  bad  housing  does  impel  men  to 
the  use  of  intoxicants. 

Again,  bad  housing  has  an  important  psychological 
effect.  A  filthy  environment  tends  to  cultivate  individ- 
ual habits  of  negligence.  Familiarity  with  ugliness  and 
dirt  is  degrading.  Moreover,  "it  is  bad  for  people  to  be 
crowded  into  barrack-like  tenement  houses,  for  such 
massing  inspires  the  cheese-mite  consciousness,  makes  the 
self  count  for  nothing."  4  "Close  relations  to  a  few  people 
—  as  in  a  well-knit  family  —  joined  to  a  vivid  sense  of 
obligation  to  the  community,  seem  to  be  more  favorable 
to  stable  character  than  the  loose  touch-and-go  associa- 
tions of  general  intercourse."  6  In  other  words,  Professor 
Ross  holds  that  life  in  a  crowded  district  checks  the  growth 
of  individuality  and  of  stable  character.  Mr.  Veiller  thinks 
that  one  of  the  serious  effects  of  the  tenement  house  is  a 

1  Riis,  Chanties  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xviii,  p.  77. 
1  Municipal  Affairs  Magazine,  March,  1899. 
1  Quoted  from  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  p.  350. 
4  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  p.  88.          6  Ibid.,  p.  88. 


HOUSING  83 

nervous  friction  of  life  on  life  which  forces  people  to  live 
under  constant  nervous  strain.1  But  the  worst  effects  are 
on  the  moral  nature  itself.  The  sense  of  modesty  is 
endangered;  children  sleeping  in  the  same  rooms  as  their 
parents  learn  many  things  they  would  better  not  know; 
and  the  evil  associations  in  crowded  districts,  combined 
with  the  lack  of  opportunity  to  play,  seriously  impair  the 
morals  of  the  boys  and  girls.  "Professor  Huxley,  who  once 
lived  as  a  medical  officer  in  the  east  of  London,  spoke  out 
of  his  personal  knowledge  when  he  declared  that  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  savages  of  New  Guinea  were  much  more 
conducive  to  the  leading  of  decent  existence  than  those 
in  which  many  of  the  'east  enders'  live."  2  In  the  tene- 
ment and  in  the  hovel  the  high  type  of  family  life  which 
is  indispensable  to  the  mental  and  moral  development  of 
normal  man  is  impossible. 

When  it  was  said  that  the  tenure  of  homes  is  a  matter 
of  importance,  no  attempt  was  made  to  justify  the  state- 
ment. The  significance  of  property lessness  is  appreciated 
by  Robert  Hunter,  who  writes:  "A  propertyless  person 
is  one  without  any  economic  reserve  power.  He  is  in  no 
position  to  ward  off  the  sufferings  which  must  frequently 
come  to  most  persons  depending  wholly  upon  their  ability 
to  labor  and  upon  demand,  in  the  community,  for  their 
services.  Security  of  livelihood  in  the  present  state  of 
society  comes  only  with  the  possession  of  property."  3 
Yet  the  lack  of  property  has  a  deeper  meaning,  "the  pro- 
tection and  care  of  a  piece  of  property  makes  for  thought- 
fulness  and  steadiness,  individualizes."  4  "Personal  pos- 
session brings  with  it  a  sense  of  responsibility  and  social 
worth.  It  materially  enhances  the  productive  capacity 
of  the  individual." 5  Thus  this  lack  of  real  property 
deprives  the  workingman  of  a  possession  which  would 

1  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxvf  p.  254.  2  Strong,  New  Era,  p.  193. 

*  Poverty,  p.  46.  4  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  p.  89. 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chap,  v,  pt.  4. 


84  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

be  valuable,  both  as  a  resource  in  times  of  economic 
trouble,  and  as  an  influence  to  steady,  frugal  habits.  But 
there  is  another  side  to  the  question.  It  is  often  a  positive 
disadvantage  to  the  workman  to  own  his  house,  for  his 
employment  may  change  at  any  time,  and  he  may  then 
find  his  home  very  inconveniently  located.  Moreover,  if 
he  live  in  a  town  dominated  by  a  single  industry,  home 
ownership  would  seriously  hinder  his  defense  of  his  rights 
in  a  disagreement  with  his  employers.  On  the  whole,  then, 
it  may  be  just  as  well  that  workingmen  do  not  own  their 
houses. 

The  large  lodging-houses,  too,  have  grievous  faults. 
The  isolated  life  postpones  marriage  and  fosters  selfish- 
ness.1 The  houses  often  lack  parlors;  so,  if  social  life  is 
not  absolutely  prohibited,  visitors  must  be  entertained 
in  the  rooms.  What  immorality  this  practice  may  lead  to 
can  never  be  known.  At  any  rate,  such  life  is  unnatural,  it 
lacks  every  vestige  of  ennobling  family  intercourse. 

The  housing  problem,  then,  is  omnipresent  in  the  United 
States.  In  most  large  cities,  and  in  many  smaller  ones, 
the  more  poorly  recompensed  laborers  inhabit  tenements. 
They  pay  exorbitant  rents  for  dark  or  dingy  rooms  lack- 
ing in  proper  toilet  and  bathing  facilities.  High  rentals 
make  it  necessary  to  accommodate  boarders  and  lodgers, 
thus  fearfully  overcrowding  the  small  apartments.  The 
result  is  that  the  morals  of  the  children  are  endangered 
and  vice  is  rampant  among  their  elders,  that  individuality 
is  crushed  out,  and  that  adequate  rest  cannot  be  obtained 
by  workers.  There  are  millions  who  occupy  such  tenement 
houses.  Even  where  these  habitations  are  unknown,  how- 
ever, just  as  intolerable  sanitary  conditions  exist,  whether 
it  be  in  the  small  houses  of  Philadelphia,  the  shanties  of 
Chicago,  the  once  stately  mansions  of  Southern  California, 
the  country  barracks  of  New  Jersey,  or  the  draughty  huts 
of  the  Southern  mill  towns.  Everywhere  the  homes  of 
1  Wolfe,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xix,  p.  961. 


HOUSING  85 

the  poor  are  not  only  unattractive,  but  repellent  —  filthy, 
disease-breeding :  boys  and  girls  are  driven  into  the  streets, 
men  into  the  saloon.  Workmen  can  no  longer  generally 
own  their  homes  —  thus  they  lose  the  steadying  effect 
of  proprietorship,  they  have  less  incentive  to  thrift,  and 
they  are  less  likely  to  be  such  reliable  citizens  as  of 
old.  Again,  boarders  and  lodgers,  men  and  women  with 
no  family  attachment,  complicate  the  situation.  Beyond 
doubt  the  homes  of  several  million  laborers  are  far  below 
a  reasonable  standard  for  comfort  and  for  morality.  It 
should  be  possible  to  keep  these  dwellings  at  least  clean 
and  neat ;  they  should  certainly  have  good  light  and  venti- 
lation, sanitary  toilet  facilities,  abundant  water,  and  sleep- 
ing-apartments numerous  enough  for  decency.  These 
reasonable  demands  of  the  most  modest  standard  are  all 
too  frequently  unheeded.  They  find  no  place  in  the  stand- 
ard of  living  of  countless  American  laborers. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FOOD 

FOOD  has  two  main  functions,  the  furnishing  of  heat  with 
which  to  run  the  bodily  machine,  and  the  supplying  of 
matter  with  which  worn-out  tissue  is  replaced  or  new 
tissue  formed.  Some  substances  ordinarily  taken  as  foods 
seem  to  perform  neither  of  these  offices,  but  cause  a  flow 
of  the  digestive  juices,  or  act  upon  the  nerves.  Aside  from 
its  physiological  use,  food  is  an  important  social  stimulus. 
It  is  certainly  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  the  table  is  the 
centre  of  a  large  part  of  modern  life.  Not  to  mention  the 
really  worthy  pleasures  to  be  derived  there  from  tastes  and 
aromas,  the  genial  conversation  makes  men  better.  This 
is  the  ideal  —  however  feebly,  every  household  is  creeping 
toward  it. 

Since  physical  health  is  indispensable  to  the  highest 
intellectual  development,  food  is  the  foundation  of  mental 
as  well  as  bodily  efficiency.  Properly  to  perform  its  physi- 
ological functions,  diet  must  have  two  constituents  — 
proteids,  for  body  building,  and  fats  and  carbohydrates 
to  furnish  energy,  whether  for  immediate  use  or  to  be 
stored  against  future  demands.  The  proteids,  it  is  true, 
may  act  as  fuel,  but  in  this  capacity  they  are  uneconomical, 
for  not  only  are  they  poor  heat  producers,  but  they  leave 
what  Professor  Irving  Fisher  calls  "clinkers,"  compounds 
that  are  worthless  or  harmful,  and  that  have  to  be  ex- 
pelled from  the  body.  On  the  other  hand,  when  fats  and 
carbohydrates  are  used  as  fuel,  they  burn  to  water  and 
carbon  dioxide,  two  easily  eliminated  substances.  For 
immediate  availability,  carbohydrates  are  the  best  food, 


FOOD  87 

but  fats  are  more  concentrated,  and  can  be  stored  in  the 
body  for  future  consumption. 

Although  there  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the 
amount  of  food  really  needed  by  human  beings,  the  ques- 
tion has  never  been  settled.  Professor  W.  O.  Atwater 
concluded  that  a  man  at  moderately  active  work  should 
have  115  grams,  or  .25  pound,  of  available  protein,  and 
enough  fats  and  carbohydrates  to  produce  in  all  3400 
calories  of  heat.1  A  man  at  hard  muscular  work  requires 
20  per  cent  more,  a  woman  20  per  cent  less,  and  so  on. 
These  figures  have  hardly  been  improved,  and  are  used  in 
many  recent  dietary  computations.  In  determining  whether 
a  family  is  sufficiently  fed,  it  is  customary  to  count  the  man 
as  1.00,  his  wife  as  .90,  a  child  between  11  and  14  inclusive 
as  .90,  a  child  7  to  10  as  .75,  one  4,  5,  or  6  as  .40,  and  one 
under  3  as  .15.2  By  adding  the  decimals  corresponding  to 
the  ages  and  sex  of  the  members  of  the  household,  its  food 
requirement  can  be  reduced  to  terms  of  adult  males.  For 
example,  a  family  consisting  of  father,  mother,  and  three 
children,  aged  2,  5,  and  12,  would  require  the  food  of  1.00 
+  .90 +  .15 +  .40 +.90,  or  3.35  adult  males.  Thus,  if  it  is 
known  what  victuals  a  household  uses,  by  means  of  the 
figure  expressing  its  nutrition  requirement  and  of  tables 
showing  the  food  and  fuel  value  of  the  substances  pur- 
chased, the  adequacy  of  the  family  diet  can  be  deter- 
mined.3 But  the  economists  have  not  been  content  with 
this  tedious  method  of  calculation;  it  is  too  difficult  to 
apply.  So  various  efforts  have  been  made  to  ascertain  the 
minimum  monetary  equivalent  of  115  grams  of  proteids 
and  3400  calories.  In  1896,  after  long  experimentation, 
Professor  Atwater  estimated  the  minimum  cost  of  neces- 
sary food  at  $.23  to  $.25  per  man  per  day  in  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  New  England.  Professor  Frank  P.  Under- 

1  Farmers'  Bulletin,  no.  142,  p.  48. 

9  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  102. 

1  See  tables  in  Farmers'  Bulletin,  no.  142. 


88  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

hill,  of  Yale,  with  a  slightly  different  standard  (100  to 
125  grams  protein  and  2500  to  3000  calories)  found  that 
New  York  families  were,  in  1907,  almost  certainly  under- 
nourished if  they  spent  less  than  $.22  per  man  per  day 
on  food,  and  almost  as  surely  well  fed  if  they  spent  that 
sum,  or  more.1  The  fixing  of  this  standard  afforded  a 
short  method  of  determining  with  approximate  precision 
whether  families  in  New  York  City  are  under-fed.  On 
account  of  the  great  diversity  of  conditions,  such  a  cri- 
terion for  the  United  States  as  a  whole  is  impossible. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that,  in  studying  the  problem  of  diet, 
the  kind  and  amount  of  food  purchased  must  be  known, 
in  order  that  its  nutritive  value  may  be  calculated.  But 
there  is  one  other  significant  factor  in  studying  the  diet 
of  the  working  people  —  its  preparation.  Professor  At- 
water  considered  the  cooking  of  foods  very  important, 
for  seasoning  has  large  effect  on  the  juices,  and  stimulates 
the  nerves;  cooking  changes  the  chemical  composition, 
and  thus  alters  both  the  digestibility  and  the  nutritive 
value;2  general  appearance  affects  the  appetite;  and, 
both  in  the  amount  of  material  discarded  and  in  use  of 
fuel,  preparation  may  be  more  or  less  wasteful.  Home 
cooking,  estimating  labor  as  worth  8*A  cents  an  hour,  is 
from  30  per  cent  to  55  per  cent  cheaper  than  purchasing 
of  the  bakers.3  As  it  is  impossible  to  carry  to  completion 
wide  studies  involving  all  these  elements,  —  kind,  amount, 
and  preparation  of  food,  —  the  problem  of  nutrition  can- 
not be  thoroughly  canvassed;  yet  some  progress  has  been 
made  toward  definite  conclusions. 

Before  entering  into  an  extended  discussion  of  what  is 
purchased  by  American  workers,  it  may  be  well  to  note 
how  much  they  spend  for  their  nourishment.  In  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1885,  the  mean  cost  of  food  for  some  families 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Lining  in  New  York  City,  p.  126. 

1  See  Farmers'  Bulletin,  no.  142,  p.  SO. 

a  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  vii,  p.  463. 


FOOD  89 

averaging  5.21  individuals,  was  $171.73,  or  49.28  per  cent 
of  the  total  cost  of  living  —  $32.90  per  person.1  In  that 
year  average  board  could  be  procured  for  about  $3.84  per 
week  for  men  and  $2.56  for  women.  Then,  however,  the 
prices  of  groceries  were  16.18  per  cent  higher  than  in 
Great  Britain,  and  board  and  lodging  were  39.01  per  cent 
higher;  yet  the  average  cost  of  living  was  only  17.29  per 
cent  higher  in  Massachusetts.  In  1896,  M.  Levasseur 
wrote  that  the  American  family  spends  $5  or  $6  a  week 
for  food.2  How  cheaply  Italians  live  and  work  is  recorded 
in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  no.  72.3  They 
would  pay  a  rental  of  $1  a  month  for  a  bunk  in  a  shanty 
and  expend  from  $5.13  to  $5.50  for  food  during  this  period. 
Slavs  and  Hungarians  spent  from  $8.50  to  $10  on  their 
diet.  In  these  camps,  the  typical  cost  of  living  for  six 
months  was  $48  for  Italians,  $72  for  Slavs  and  Hungari- 
ans, and  for  other  nationalities  $108.  The  average  weekly 
expenditure  for  nutrition  of  the  Italians  in  Chicago 
ranged  from  $.67H  per  individual  in  families  of  7  persons 
to  $1.88H  for  men  living  alone.  The  average  was  $.82.4 
Dr.  Forman  found  households  living  in  Washington  at  the 
weekly  rate  of  $.72  per  man,  the  mean  of  19  poor  families 
being  $1.08.5  In  Wisconsin,  in  1904,  423  families  spent  an 
average  of  $233.93,  or  46  per  cent  of  their  incomes,  for 
subsistence  —  $55.44  per  year  per  member,  or  a  little  over 
a  dollar  a  week.6  It  is  reported  that  some  Western  col- 
leges, which  have  farms  of  their  own,  are  able  to  furnish 
board  to  their  students  at  $.14  or  $.15  per  day.  The  free 
lunch,  often  furnished  by  saloons,  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  economy  of  many  workingmen,  and  some  women; 
one  Chicago  saloon  "gives"  away  from  $30  to  $40  worth 

Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1885. 

Yale  Review,  vol.  v,  p.  126. 

Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  72,  p.  474,  and  no.  13,  p.  725. 

Ibid.,  no.  13,  p.  725. 

Ibid.,  no.  64,  p.  603. 

Wisconsin  Bureau  of  Labor,  Census,  and  Industrial  Statistics,  1905-08. 


90  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

of  food  a  day. l  In  the  Bureau  of  Labor  study  of  "  The  Cost 
of  Living,"  it  was  found  that  for  the  normal  families  the 
mean  outlay  for  food  per  adult  male  was  $91.31,  vary- 
ing from  $94.54  in  the  North  Atlantic  Division  to  $79.26 
in  the  South  Central  States  —  not  an  extremely  wide  dif- 
ference.2 It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  with  the  increase 
of  children,  the  expenditure  for  nutriment  per  adult  male 
(as  well  as  per  member  of  the  family)  fell  very  rapidly. 
Rating  the  families  having  no  children  100,  those  having 
one  child  spent  90. 24;  two  children,  80.01;  five  children, 
54.67  per  male  adult.3  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  average 
food  expenditure  throughout  the  country  was  $91.31, 
which  is  $1.76  per  week,  well  above  the  safety  limit  set 
by  Professor  Underbill,  $1.54.  If  this  average  means  any- 
thing, it  would  indicate  that  the  average  families  are  well- 
fed.  On  the  other  hand,  Table  xxin  would  seem  to 
prove  that,  at  least  among  normal  families,  those  having 
four  or  five  children  are  under-fed  according  to  the  mone- 
tary standard  for  New  York  and  New  England  cities. 

TABLE  XXIII 

FOOD   COST   PEB  ADULT   MALE   IN   NORMAL   FAMILIES4 

No.  of  children             No.  offamiliei  Cott  Cost  per  day 

No  children  138  $121.01  $.331 

One  child  225  109.20  .295 

Two  children  256  96.82  .265 

Three  children  206  86.05  .236 

Four  children  152  75.52  .207 

Five  children  66  66.16  .181 

Little  can  be  learned,  however,  from  considering  aver- 
ages for  a  country  over  which  food  costs  differ  so  widely 
as  they  must  in  the  United  States.  It  is,  therefore,  at 
least  helpful  to  turn  to  some  more  specific  dietaries.  Dr. 

1  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon,  p.  17  ff. 

*  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  105. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  107. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  631. 


FOOD  91 

Roberts1  says  that  in  the  anthracite  coal  communities,  the 
grocery  bill  of  a  Slav  family  will  average  $2.68  per  capita 
per  month,  and  that  of  an  English-speaking  family  $5.68. 
The  Slavs  buy  flour,  barley,  salt  pork,  potatoes,  cabbages, 
barrel  pickles,  garlic,  coffee,  sardines  (5  cents  the  can),  eggs, 
and  some  butter  and  sugar.  The  English-speaking  popula- 
tion adds  to  this  list  of  purchases,  ham,  onions,  bottled 
pickles,  tea,  lard,  dried  beef,  spices,  cakes  or  crackers, 
mackerel,  canned  tomatoes,  peaches,  apricots,  cherries, 
lemons,  cheese,  sugar,  butter,  salmon,  soap,  rubbers,  and 
brooms.  Now,  the  Slavs  are  beginning  to  indulge  in  some 
luxuries,  such  as  jam,  prunes,  and  apple-butter.  Many  of 
these  mine  employees  vary  their  diet  with  vegetables  that 
they  cultivate  in  their  own  gardens;  in  fact,  some  of  the 
operating  companies  encourage  this  practice.  On  the 
whole,  the  lowest  stratum  of  mine  employees  has  good 
food  both  in  variety  and  quantity.  Among  the  foreign- 
born,  the  food  is  eaten  at  a  clean  wooden  table,  from  an 
agate  pan,  with  a  pocket  knife;  but  that  does  not  seem  to 
detract  from  its  value. 

The  factory  people  in  Pittsburg  are  not  so  happily  situ- 
ated as  the  nearby  miners.  A  girl  often  makes  her  dinner 
of  bread  and  jam,  cake  and  pickles;  or  she  may  have  cheese, 
sausage,  or  cold  meat.  At  any  rate,  she  habitually  bolts 
her  lunch  in  less  than  ten  minutes,  in  order  to  have 
opportunity  to  talk  during  the  major  part  of  her  nooning. 
The  reason  for  this  pitifully  insufficient  diet  is  well  ex- 
pressed by  Mrs.  Van  Vorst  in  describing  her  own  experi- 
ence as  a  working- woman:  "I  am  beginning  to  understand 
why  the  meagre  lunches  of  preserves,  sandwiches,  and 
pickles  more  than  satisfy  the  girls  whom  I  was  prepared 
to  accuse  of  spending  their  money  on  gewgaws  rather  than 
on  nourishment.  It  is  fatigue  that  steals  the  appetite.  I 
can  hardly  taste  what  I  put  in  my  mouth;  the  food  sticks 
in  my  throat.  I  did  not  want  wholesome  food,  exhausted 
1  See  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chap,  iv,  pt.  8,  p.  100. 


92  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

as  I  was.  I  craved  sours,  and  sweets,  pickles,  cake,  any- 
thing to  excite  my  numb  taste."  l  Something  similar  is 
described  by  the  author  of  "The  Long  Day,"  a  bright 
young  country  girl,  who,  coming  to  New  York  to  make 
her  way  after  her  parents  had  died,  finally  found  that 
she  fared  best  by  accepting  the  free  lunch,  offered  in  the 
saloons.  The  girls  in  the  "Pearl  Laundry,"  where,  for  a 
while,  she  found  employment,  would  eat  for  their  noonday 
meal  pickles  and  a  ham  sandwich.  Once  she  asked  a 
factory  operative  why  she  did  not  eat  more  and  received 
this  reply,  "Me?  Oh,  I'm  all  right  —  I'm  eating  as  much 
as  I  ever  do.  The  work  takes  away  my  hunger.  If  it 
did  n't,  I  don't  know  how  I  'd  get  along.  If  I  ate  as  much 
as  you,  I  'd  be  likely  to  starve  to  death.  I  could  n't  make 
enough  to  feed  me.  When  I  first  begun  to  work  in  the 
factory,  I'd  eat  three  or  four  pieces  of  bread  across  the 
loaf,  and  potatoes  and  meat,  and  be  hungry  for  things 
besides;  but  after  a  while  you  get  used  to  being  hungry 
for  so  long,  you  could  n't  eat  if  you  had  it  to  eat." !i  The 
anonymous  writer  believed  this  condition  to  be  typical 
of  the  New  York  factory  girls.  They  are  so  poorly  paid 
that  they  cannot  afford  to  be  hungry,  that  they  cannot 
even  feel  hunger. 

The  Southern  textile  workers  are  an  interesting  folk, 
largely  country  people  drawn  to  the  mills  by  the  hope  of 
earning  high  wages.  They  forget  to  consider  that  they 
will  have  additional  expenses  and  will  be  unable  to  raise 
their  own  vegetables.  Of  them  the  Massachusetts  Bureau 
of  Statistics  of  Labor  says: 8  "The  operatives  of  the  South 
do  not  eat  so  much  meat  as  those  of  the  North,  and,  as 
one  mill  treasurer  said,  'do  not  eat  enough,'  but  exist 
on  vegetables,  chickens,  and  fruit.  A  Northern  operative 
would  find  it  rather  difficult  at  first  to  become  accustomed 

1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  39. 

3  The  Long  Day,  p.  129. 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1905,  p.  57. 


FOOD  98 

to  the  kind  of  food  and  the  method  of  cooking,  but  it  is 
a  fact  that  if  he  could  become  used  to  it,  he  might  in  time 
live  more  cheaply  in  the  South."  It  is  left  to  the  reader 
to  infer  that  the  Northerner  would  not  and  could  not 
thrive  on  this  diet.  Miss  Van  Vorst  vividly  describes  her 
first  two  meals  in  a  boarding-house  for  cotton  operatives: 
"On  a  tin  saucepan  there  was  a  little  salt  pork,  and  on 
another  dish  a  pile  of  grease-swimming  spinach."  The 
food  was  devoured  in  less  than  a  quarter-hour,  because 
the  factory  allowed  only  forty-five  minutes  nooning,  and 
there  was  a  mile  walk  each  way  between  the  house  and 
the  work.  For  supper  these  people  ate  fish,  salt  pork,  and 
hominy.  All  was  grease.  It  was  very  repulsive  to  a  person 
of  refinement,  and  was,  moreover,  physiologically  inade- 
quate. This  fact  was  strikingly  expressed  by  one  of  the 
people  themselves,  who  remarked  to  Miss  Van  Vorst, 
' '  You  all  must  of  had  good  food  whar  you  come  from : 
your  skin  shows  it;  't  ain't  much  like  hyarabouts.  Why, 
I  'd  know  a  mill  hand  any  whar,  if  I  met  her  at  the  North 
Pole  —  sailer,  pale,  sickly.'  I  might  have  added  for  him 
deathlike  —  skeleton  —  doomed."  l  This  testimony  of  a 
cultured  Northern  woman  who  went  and  worked  with  the 
mill  hands  is  of  great  value.  These  people  are  certainly 
insufficiently  fed. 

One  of  the  interesting  facts  developed  by  Dr.  Forman 
in  his  study  of  the  conditions  of  living  among  the  poor 
of  Washington  is  the  important  place  occupied  by  bread 
in  the  dietaries  of  the  indigent.  According  to  his  calcula- 
tion this  justly  named  "staff  of  life"  absorbed  over  a  fifth 
of  the  expenditure  for  subsistence.  In  the  week  when 
outlay  for  nutrition  was  at  its  maximum,  bread  cost  a 
typical  family  $1.17  (19.8  per  cent  of  all),  and  at  a  time 
when  food  expenditure  was  at  the  opposite  extreme,  this 
household  spent  for  bread  $1.03  (24.5  per  cent  of  all).2 

1  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  chap,  vii,  quotation  on  p.  239. 
1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  601. 


94  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Bread  and  meat  together  comprised  60  per  cent  of  the 
food  consumed  by  these  families;  potatoes,  coffee,  and 
tea  were  other  staples.  Syrups,  cheap  preserves,  and  jel- 
lies were  used  to  substitute  for  butter  on  bread;  though 
fruits  were  little  purchased,  apples,  pears,  and  grapes  were 
most  popular.1  Among  the  poor  generally  the  menu  is 
characterized  by  the  superlative  importance  of  bread.2 

That  the  Italians  of  Chicago  were  not  properly  nourished 
was  long  suspected,  because  they  were  considered  fit  for 
the  lighter  forms  of  manual  labor  only,  because  they 
avoided  the  hospitals  on  the  ground  that  they  starved  in 
these  institutions,  and  because  rickets  was  very  prevalent 
among  their  children.  The  conclusions  of  the  Bureau 
of  Labor  were  that  "it  is  probable  that  there  are  exceed- 
ingly few  Italians  in  the  city  of  Chicago  who  do  not  spend 
enough  money  upon  their  food  to  buy  sufficient  nutriment 
to  keep  their  bodies  in  good  condition,  providing  only 
the  money  is  judiciously  spent,  and  the  food  properly 
prepared.  Except  in  rare  cases,  the  Italians  certainly  eat 
enough."  The  fault  with  their  diet  is  that  there  is  an 
excess  of  fuel  in  the  forms  of  wheat  flour,  pork,  lard,  and 
second-rate  green  vegetables.  Beans,  eggs,  chicken,  and 
cheese  are  sparingly  indulged  in.  The  large  consumption 
of  beer  curtails  the  expenditure  for  more  wholesome 
foods;  the  "Italian  laborer  frequently  takes  for  his  lunch 
only  bread  and  peppers."  The  cooking  is  indefensibly 
uneconomical,  and  aggravates  the  malnutrition.  Even 
the  children  are  denied  a  milk  diet  and  are  fed  the  same 
unwholesome  stuff  that  is  eaten  by  their  elders.  Thus, 
the  fault  among  these  Italians  is  not  lack  of  means  to  buy 
food,  but  unwise  expenditure  —  the  consumption  of  too 
much  fuel  and  too  little  protein.3 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  605. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvi,  p.  193. 

1  This  may  be  found  in  full  in  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  no. 
13,  p.  721  ff.,  or  9th  Special  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Labor. 


FOOD  95 

Returning  to  New  York,  Dr.  Chapin's  work  includes  an 
accurate  estimate  of  the  number  of  under-fed  families 
among  the  workers. 

TABLE  XXIV 

TINDER-FED   FAMILIES   IN  NEW  YORK  CITY  * 


Income 

Total  familiet 

Under-fed  familiet 
Number            Per  cent 

$400  to  $599 

25 

19 

76 

$600  to  $799 

151 

48 

32 

$800  to  $899 

73 

16 

22 

$900  to  $1099 

94 

8 

9 

Total 

391* 

91 

23^2 

Of  course  these  figures  give  no  indication  for  the  country 
as  a  whole,  but  they  certainly  do  portray  conditions  as 
they  exist  in  New  York  City.  Exactly  one  third  of  the 
families  with  incomes  between  $400  and  $900  are  under-fed 
—  do  not  spend  $.22  per  man  per  day  for  food.  And  this 
is  true  in  a  country  that  professes  to  lead  civilization! 

TABLE  XXV 

PER  CENT  OF  TOTAL  FOOD  EXPENDITURE  INCURRED  FOR  SPECIFIC  OBJECTS8 

North  South  North  Smith  United 

Atlantic  Atlantic  Central  Central  Western  States 

Poultry,  meat,  fish               35.49  32.47  31.58  31.83  28.94  33.80 

Eggs,  milk,  butter,  cheese   22.19  19.09  20.61  17.27  20.73  21.26 

Lard                                          2.41  4.26  3.22  4.89  1.76  2.86 

Tea,  sugar,  coffee,                10.12  10.42  10.35  11.45  9.48  10.24 

Flours,  bread,  rice                  9.93  11.12  8.24  12.27  7.04  9.57 

Vegetables,  fruit                   13.36  15.16  16.23  13.56  27.81  14.77 

Other  food                              6.50  7.48  9.77  8.73  4.24  7.50 

Table  xxv  exhibits  the  percentage  of  total  expendi- 
ture for  food  incurred  for  various  purposes  by  fam- 
ilies all  over  the  United  States.  It  shows  that  the  normal 
outlay  for  meats  is  about  34  per  cent  of  the  total  cost 
of  food,  for  bread,  flour,  and  rice,  9.57  per  cent.  An 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  127. 

2  Total  of  families  investigated. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commistioner  of  Labor,  p.  82. 


96  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

interesting  fact  is  the  high  proportionate  expenditure  for 
lard  and  for  flour,  bread,  and  rice  in  the  Southern  divis- 
ions —  the  old  failing,  too  much  fuel,  and  too  little  pro- 
teid.  The  West  uses  fruits  and  vegetables  to  a  large 
extent.  This  is  very  fortunate  for  the  Westerners,  as  fruit 
is  certainly  a  valuable  variant  of  diet. 

But  something  more  concrete  is  necessary  to  determine 
whether  American  working  people  are  properly  fed.  In 
the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  on  the  cost  of 
living,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  is  a  table1 
showing  how  much  of  each  of  several  specified  kinds  of 
food  was  purchased  per  adult  male  in  each  section  of  the 
country,  the  cost  of  each  kind  of  food  per  adult  male,  and 
the  cost  of  all  food  per  adult  male.  In  the  Appendix 
will  be  found  the  food  values  of  most  of  these  materi- 
als.2 These  percentages  were  applied  to  the  Bureau  of 
Labor  figures  with  the  results  which  are  summarized 
in  Table  xxvi.3 

From  the  specified  foods,  sufficient  energy  in  the  form 
of  proteids  could  not  be  derived,  in  a  single  section  of  the 
United  States,  by  the  average  adult  male.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fuel  value  would  in  every  case  satisfy  Under- 
bill, and  almost  meets  Atwater's  requirements.  However, 
these  specific  items  do  not  include  all  of  the  food  expend- 
iture. If  the  rest  of  the  money  actually  spent  for  subsist- 
ence is  as  wisely  used  as  that  accounted  for  by  the  spe- 
cific items,  it  is  evident  that  almost  but  not  quite  enough 
proteids  (.25  Ib.)  are  obtained  in  every  division  of  the 
country,  with  the  exception  of  the  Western  States,  and  that 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  623. 

2  Appendix  C. 

3  Perhaps  this  table  needs  a  word  of  explanation.  In  the  North  Atlan- 
tic States  the  total  expenditure  for  food  was  122  per  cent  of  the  expendi- 
ture for  specified  foods.  So,  if  the  specified  foods  are  a  fair  criterion  of  all 
the  food,  the  total  daily  proteids  consumed  by  the  average  adult  male 
will  be  1.22X0.203  (the  corrective  constant  multiplied  by  the  proteids 
in  the  specified   foods),  or  0.249  Ibs.  Appendix   D   contains   the  full 
figures. 


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98  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

everywhere  the  allowance  of  fuel  is  excessive.  In  the  South 
Central  States  alone  does  the  expenditure  fall  below  Dr. 
Underbill's  monetary  minimum.  Yet  these  estimates 
cannot  be  considered  as  the  facts,  for  the  foods  which 
were  specified  were  by  far  the  most  substantial  in  the 
human  bill  of  fare.  Among  the  unspecified  purchases  were 
condiments,  fruits,  preserves,  and  other  foods  of  the  lowest 
nutritive  value.  It  is  certain  that  the  expenditure  for  food 
other  than  that  specified  could  not  have  been  as  advant- 
ageous from  the  standpoint  of  nutrition  as  that  which  was 
there  tabulated,  for  these  other  purchases  would  undoubt- 
edly include  also  the  luxuries  or  delicacies  which  are 
useful  only  for  the  taste  and  not  for  nourishment.  Now, 
be  it  remembered  that  this  result  is  obtained  for  food 
purchased  —  no  subtraction  has  been  made  for  what  is 
left  on  plates  and  thrown  away  — 10  per  cent  would  not 
be  high  for  this  waste.  Thus  it  is  very  probable  that  the 
average  family  has  hardly  enough  proteids  in  any  section 
of  the  United  States,  but  has  enough  carbohydrates  and  fats 
all  over  the  country,  and  distinctly  too  much  fuel  in  many 
divisions.  This  is  the  broad  generalization  which  can  be 
drawn  with  fair  certainty  for  the  average  industrial  house- 
holds throughout  the  land.  If  the  average  is  just  below 
the  standard  of  sufficiency,  it  stands  to  reason  that  a 
great  many  fall  short  of  the  average  and  so  fail  to  obtain 
the  necessary  amount  of  nutriment.  It  would  not  be  at 
all  radical,  then,  to  say  that  at  least  one  third  of  the 
industrial  families  of  the  United  States  are  under-fed, 
the  same  ratio  that  applies  to  households  with  incomes 
from  $400  to  $900  in  New  York. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  well  to  notice  some  of  the 
specific  criticisms  that  have  been  passed  by  authority  on 
the  diet  of  the  American  laborer.  The  volume  "Saloon 
Substitutes, "  issued  by  the  Committee  of  Fifty,  contains 
these  words:1  "Fried  food  and  strong  coffee  form  the  bulk 
1  Page  228. 


FOOD  99 

of  the  American  workingman's  diet.  This  causes  indi- 
gestion and  of  itself  fosters  a  thirst  for  stimulants  which 
the  saloon  readily  supplies."  To  incapable  management 
of  the  home  and  to  distasteful  food  the  book  lays  much  of 
the  tendency  of  men  to  indulge  in,  alcoholic  beverages. 
Dr.  Roberts  thinks  that  Americans  expect  too  much 
luxury  in  their  food.1  "It  is  possible  to  maintain  life  a 
long  time  on  a  diet  of  bread  and  tea." 2  Tea  and  coffee 
generally  take  up  1.62  per  cent  and  3.28  per  cent  respect- 
ively of  the  food  outlay.  To  assert  that  this  expenditure  is 
wholly  unwise  might  be  unwarranted,  yet  tea  is  undoubt- 
edly often  used  as  a  stimulant,  a  goad  to  keep  a  wretch  at 
work  long  after  fatigue  and  under-nutrition  have  ruined 
his  capacity  for  assimilating  good  food.  As  a  substitute 
for  food,  an  imitation,  tea  probably  does  much  harm. 
William  Smart  calls  tea  "the  highest  concrete  want  among 
the  luxuries  of  the  poor." 3  Not  much  more  can  be  said 
for  coffee  than  for  tea.  In  1906,  it  was  found  that  of 
1400  defective  school-children  in  New  York,  1153  were 
given  tea  or  coffee  one  or  more  times  a  day.4  Whether 
these  figures  show  a  cause-effect  relation  or  not,  they  leave 
a  strong  presumption  that  something  is  wrong  with  the 
diet  of  these  little  ones. 

Dr.  Forman  criticised  the  dietary  management  of  the 
poor  in  Washington,  who  spend  what  little  they  have  very 
unwisely.  One  week  one  of  the  families  spent  $.37  for 
meat,  $.55  for  cake  and  candy,  and  $.25  for  pies.  These 
people  never  bought  their  own  flour  for  bread-making, 
but  purchased  of  the  baker,  and  they  seemed  to  ignore 
the  value  of  such  a  cheap  wholesome  food  as  corn  meal.5 
This  habit  of  extravagance  is  noted  by  Mrs.  Van  Vorst6 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chap,  iv,  pp.  106, 110  ff. 

*  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xiv,  p.  645. 

1  Smart,  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Value,  p.  23. 

4  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  x,  p.  298,  and  Table  XVI. 

*  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  600. 

*  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  112. 


100  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

when  she  says:  "What  did  these  busy  women  order  for 
lunch?  Tea  and  buns,  ice-cream  and  buckwheat  cakes, 
apple  pie  a  la  mode  and  chocolate  were  the  most  serious 
menus  —  each  spent  a  primping  five  minutes  before  the 
mirror,  adjusting  the  trash  with  which  they  bedecked 
themselves  exteriorly  —  while  their  poor  hard-working 
stomachs  went  ungarnished."  This  habit  of  buying  at  the 
bakery  what  they  could  better  and  more  cheaply  make  at 
home  is  everywhere  noticeable.  Dr.  Chapin  found  that  in 
New  York,  only  26  out  of  318  families  baked  their  own 
bread.  A  curious  fact  was  that  in  Syracuse,  17  out  of  19 
did  make  bread. 1  The  delicatessen  stores  do  their  share  of 
damage.  Their  product  is  expensive,  often  unwholesome, 
and  all  too  convenient.2  There  is,  then,  some  justification 
for  the  contention  that  many  of  the  evils  of  diet  of  the 
industrial  people  are  due  to  unwise  expenditure. 

Some  of  the  economies  practiced  among  working  fam- 
ilies of  the  lowest  rank  are  pitiful.  Sweetened  condensed 
milk  is  a  tolerable  substitute  for  butter  and  sugar;  sweet 
buns  are  easier  to  eat  than  butterless  bread;  jam  and  jelly 
are  cheaper  than  butter;  cracked  eggs  can  be  purchased 
at  less  than  whole  ones;  soup-meat  may  be  used  a  second 
time  in  hash.  Perishables  are  often  purchased  just  before 
a  meal  because  ice  is  too  expensive.  The  children  are 
ceaselessly  vigilant  for  bargains.  They  can  often  buy  fish 
at  ridiculously  low  prices  when  the  market  is  about  to 
close  with  a  miscellaneous  stock  threatening  to  be  left  on 
the  hands  of  the  dealer.  Thus,  in  countless  ways,  can  be 
traced  the  little  savings  which  may  be  wise,  and  may 
be  pernicious  to  health. 

The  most  excellent  presentation  of  the  faults  in  the  diet 
of  the  working  people  is  probably  that  of  Professor  At- 
water:  "Scientific  research,  interpreting  the  observations 
of  practical  life,  indicates  that  a  fourfold  mistake  in  food 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  132. 
1  Knopf,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  viii,  pp.  171-172. 


FOOD  101 

economy  is  very  commonly  made.  First,  the  costlier  kinds  of 
food  are  used  when  the  less  expensive  are  just  as  nutritious 
and  can  be  made  nearly  or  quite  as  palatable.  Secondly, 
the  diet  is  apt  to  be  one-sided,  in  that  foods  are  used  which 
furnish  relatively  too  much  of  the  fuel  ingredients  and  too 
little  of  the  flesh-forming  materials.  Thirdly,  excessive 
quantities  of  food  are  used;  part  is  thrown  away  in  table 
and  kitchen  wastes;  part  of  the  excess  is  eaten,  and  often 
to  the  detriment  of  the  health.  Finally,  serious  errors  in 
cooking  are  committed  (both  as  to  chemical  effect  on 
food  and  as  to  waste  of  fuel).  For  the  well-to-do,  the  worst 
injury  is  that  to  health;  but  people  of  small  incomes  suffer 
the  additional  disadvantage  of  the  injury  to  purse.  In- 
deed, to  one  who  looks  into  the  matter  it  is  surprising  to 
see  how  much  people  of  limited  means  lose  in  these  ways. 
It  is  the  poor  man's  money  that  is  most  injudiciously 
spent  in  the  market,  and  the  poor  man's  food  that  is  most 
badly  cooked  at  home."  l 

Of  the  effects  of  a  faulty  diet  little  need  be  said.  The 
lack  of  body-building  material  from  which  one  third  of 
American  industrial  families  suffer  must  make  the  men 
less  fit  for  work  than  they  should  be,  must  make  the 
babies  weaker  than  the  offspring  of  properly  nourished 
mothers,  must  handicap  these  children  in  their  studies 
at  school,  and  must  keep  them  from  the  maximum  ef- 
ficiency when  they  are  old  enough  to  go  to  work.  With- 
out good  food,  the  highest  mental  and  moral  development 
is  impossible.  It  may  be  that  the  American  laborer  has 
a  larger  variety  of  better  food  than  his  European  brother, 
but  this  fact  does  not  ameliorate  his  condition.  Neither 
does  it  benefit  the  American  that  his  faulty  nutrition  is 
due  to  ignorance  of  how  and  what  to  buy. 

It  appears,  then,  that,  whether  the  monetary  standard 
of  Professor  Underbill  or  the  chemical  criteria  of  Professor 
Atwater  be  adopted,  about  a  third  of  the  American  indus- 
1  Farmers'  Bulletin,  no.  142,  p.  43. 


102  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

trial  people  do  not  consume  enough  proteids  for  the  main- 
tenance of  efficiency.  Lack  of  proper  nourishment  aggra- 
vates its  own  evil  results  by  deadening  the  healthy  appe- 
tite and  creating  a  craving  for  sweets  and  sours,  grease  and 
pastry.  There  seems  to  be  an  omnipresent  tendency  to 
eat  too  much  heat-forming  material  —  even  when  enough 
is  spent  on  food  to  provide  ample  nourishment.  Perhaps 
ignorance  is  almost  as  much  to  blame  for  this  mal-nutri- 
tion  as  is  lack  of  means,  for  much  money  is  unwisely 
expended  in  purchasing  the  more  costly  cuts  of  meat, 
luxurious  drinks,  and  desserts,  and  faulty  preparation  for 
the  table  causes  chemical  deterioration  in  the  food  and 
physical  waste  in  fuel  and  refuse.  Thus  the  standard  of 
living  among  the  American  working  people  is  such  that 
under-nutrition  widely  prevails,  lessening  their  efficiency 
as  producers  and  inhibiting  the  full  development  of  their 
children. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CLOTHING 

CLOTHING  Mrs.  Richards  calls  "the  corollary  of  food."1 
While  diet  furnishes  the  material  from  which  tissue  is 
created  and  renewed,  and  the  energy  by  means  of  which 
the  body  does  its  work,  good  clothes,  like  the  packing 
about  a  steam  pipe,  act  as  an  insulator  —  conserve  the 
body  heat.  A  man  sufficiently  dressed  does  not  need  so 
much  food  as  one  poorly  clothed.  Conversely,  a  well- 
nourished  man  does  not  need  so  many  clothes  as  one 
under-fed.  To  be  most  effective  as  an  insulator,  clothing 
should  be  evenly  and  lightly  spread  over  the  body  in 
several  layers  of  loosely  woven  texture.2  But  the  matter 
of  apparel  is  not  so  simple  as  this  might  imply:  a  person 
should  have  garments  especially  adapted  to  such  emergen- 
cies as  rain-storms  and  snow;  he  should  be  able  to  keep 
dry,  as  well  as  warm.  Raiment  has  still  another  proper 
function  —  ornament ;  for,  as  decency  and  health  decree 
that  clothing  must  be  worn,  so  taste  demands  that  it 
should  be  becoming.  To  be  well  clad  not  only  adds  to  a 
person's  prestige  and  self-respect,  but  also  contributes  a 
real  and  worthy  pleasure  to  those  whom  he  meets.  Thus 
clothing  should  protect  against  inclement  weather,  con- 
serve vital  energy,  and  make  the  person  attractive. 

Although  it  would  not  be  profitable  to  enter  into  a 
detailed  discussion  of  the  practice  in  regard  to  clothing 
in  the  different  sections  of  the  country,  it  may  be  interest- 
ing to  note  that  in  the  cotton  communities  of  the  South, 
a  man  can  purchase  two  shirts  and  two  pairs  of  trousers, 
enough  to  last  him  half  a  year,  for  a  single  dollar.  Shoes 
1  Richards,  The  Coat  of  Living,  p.  87.  l  Ibid.,  p.  83. 


104  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

TABLE  XXVII 

AVERAGE   EXPENDITURE   PER   FAMILY    OF   2567    FAMILIES   HAVING 
AN   EXPENDITURE    FOR   CLOTHING2 

Butband  Wife  Children 

North  Atlantic  States  $34.18  $27.18  $51.86 

South  Atlantic  States  31.79  22.79  51.94 

North  Central  States  35.99  25.73  58.04 

South  Central  States  29.60  19.51  52.53 

Western  States  37.07  36.53  64.11 

United  States  34.38  26.37  54.15 

and  other  necessities,  however,  compel  the  average  male 
operative  to  expend  from  $9  to  $12  a  year  for  ap- 
parel.1 In  the  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  women  invest  from  $25  to  $150  per  year  in  their 
dress,  averaging  about  $50  or  $60.  A  Slav  woman,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  spend  barely  $25.  The  men  of  this  race 
deny  themselves  socks,  collars,  ties,  white  shirts,  and  over- 
coats, limiting  their  clothing  outlay  to  $25  at  the  utter- 
most; but  the  young  bloods  of  American  birth  insist  on 
having  "modish"  suits,  collars,  cuffs,  ties,  white  shirts, 
gold  watches  and  studs,  high-priced  hats,  and  an  overcoat 
or  two.  Your  young  American  demands  frequent  change 
withal,  for  he  must  be  in  the  latest  style.  His  raiment 
costs  him  $40  or  $50  a  year.3  Mrs.  More  found  for  her  New 
York  families  that  a  household  with  an  income  of  $652 
spent  for  the  dress  of  the  man  $11.10,  of  the  mother  $10.12, 
of  an  eight-year-old  girl  $13.91,  and  of  a  six -year-old  boy 
$13.87.  Another  family  with  an  income  of  only  $675 
expended  on  the  clothing  of  the  husband  $30,  of  the  wife 
$13.50,  of  the  girl  of  fifteen  $35.40,  and  of  her  brother  a 
year  younger  $21. 10.4  These  examples,  chosen  at  random, 
illustrate  the  fact  that  there  is  a  wide  variation  of  cost 
and  taste  in  clothing.  It  is,  however,  possible  to  arrive  at 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1905,  p.  59. 

2  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  508. 
8  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chap,  iv,  pt.  2. 

4  More,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets.  See  whole  of  chap.  vii. 


CLOTHING 


105 


TABLE 

XXVIII 

COST 

OP   CLOTHING1 

'    Income 
ife 

Total 
expenditure 
$O7 

Father 
$O7 

Mother 
a        o? 

Each  boy 
$(rf 

Each  girl 
$rrt 

*p 
400-499 

60.65 

13.0 

16.30 

27. 

<p 
9.89 

16. 

11.11 

18. 

9.06 

15. 

500-599 

67.95 

12.4 

25.26 

37. 

14.81 

22. 

9.54 

14. 

7.88 

12. 

600-699 

83.48 

12.9 

28.10 

33.6 

17.48 

21. 

10.68 

12.8 

10.90 

13. 

700-799 

98.79 

13.4 

34.19 

34.6 

20.23 

20.5 

12.98 

13.2 

12.23 

12.4 

800-899 

113.59 

14. 

34.10 

30.0 

22.76 

20.0 

16.13 

14.2 

15.96 

14.1 

900-999 

132.34 

14.6 

40.36 

30.5 

27.71 

21.0 

19.29 

14.6 

16.86 

12.8 

1000-1099 

155.57 

15.5 

44.02 

28.3 

32.25 

20.8 

24.32 

15.7 

24.79 

16.0 

some  concept  of  the  minimum  necessary  outlay  for 
dress. 

Table  xxvn  shows  for  2567  families  distributed  over 
the  United  States  the  cost  of  clothing  the  father,  mother, 
and  children.  It  will  be  observed  that  about  a  third  of 
the  expense  is  incurred  by  the  man,  a  little  less  than  a 
quarter  by  the  wife,  and  not  quite  a  half  by  the  children. 
The  mean  size  of  these  families  was  5.31,  that  is,  there  were 
presumably  about  3.31  children  in  each  household,  and 
the  average  total  outlay  for  dress  was  $114.90. 

Table  xxvm  presents  the  corresponding  facts  for  the 
New  York  City  family  as  studied  by  Dr.  Chapin,  except 
that  the  expenses  for  each  individual  child,  boy  or  girl,  are 
recorded  for  the  different  groups.  The  father  takes  the 
lion's  share,  using  37  to  28  per  cent  of  the  family  funds 
allotted  to  clothing;  the  percentage  of  his  expenditures 
falls  steadily  after  the  income  of  $500  is  reached.  The 
mother  receives  just  about  20  per  cent.  In  almost  every 
group  it  costs  more  to  dress  the  boy  than  the  girl! 

So  far  actual  expenditures  have  been  discussed.  What 
is  the  necessary  cost  of  clothing  a  family  of  five?  In  1890, 
the  Iowa  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  thoroughly  investi- 
gated the  cost  of  living  and  decided  upon  a  minimum  of 
what  was  necessary  for  life,  itemizing  carefully.  The  con- 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  pages  174-175. 


106  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

elusion  of  this  study  was  that  $42.80  is  necessary  to  clothe 
the  father,  $26  to  dress  the  mother,  $45  to  give  three 
children  proper  apparel,  and  $8  to  purchase  the  pins, 
needles,  thread,  and  incidentals  necessary  for  mending 
and  darning,  a  total  of  $121.80.  The  Bureau  offered  this 
estimate  as  a  minimum.1  Miss  Caroline  Goodyear  says 
that  it  costs  at  least  $28.74  per  annum  in  New  York  to 
dress  a  boy  in  short  trousers,  and  $45.80  to  clothe  one  in 
long  trousers;  for  a  girl  in  short  dresses  the  necessary 
expense  is  $27.43,  for  her  older  sister  $38.13.2  This  would 
mean  a  minimum  of  at  least  $140  for  a  family  of  five.  Dr. 
Chapin  fixes  the  minimum  cost  of  clothing  a  family  of  five 
in  New  York  at  $100,  divided  as  follows:  husband  $33, 
wife  $23,  two  boys  at  $12  each  —  $24,  a  girl  $15,  and  wash- 
ing $10:  total  $105. 3  Though  he  maintains  that  a  family 
cannot  be  decently  clad  for  less  than  $100,  he  is  not  sure 
that  sum  will  suffice.  His  estimate  omits  some  articles 
essential  to  health  and  is  certainly  too  low.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  87  of  the  318  households  were  recipients  of  gifts 
of  clothing,  a  large  per  cent  of  the  families  were  underclad.4 

Table  xxix  indicates  that,  according  to  Dr.  Chapin's 
standard,  not  until  the  income  of  $800  is  reached  do  the 
families  in  the  United  States  at  large  spend  on  the  average 
enough  to  be  properly  clothed.  To  the  objection  that  this 
estimate  was  made  for  New  York  City  alone,  it  may  be 
replied  that  since  1890,  when  the  minimum  was  placed  in 
Iowa  at  $121,  general  prices  have  somewhat  risen.  So  $100 
can  probably  be  considered  too  low  a  minimum. 

The  ill  effects  of  insufficient  clothing  are  not,  perhaps, 
so  evident  as  those  of  faulty  nutrition,  yet  the  high  death- 
rate  from  pneumonia,  which  sometimes  causes  15  per  cent 
of  urban  winter  deaths  and  10  per  cent  of  all  deaths,  is 

1  Iowa  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  1890,  p.  £71. 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvii,  p.  318. 

*  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  166. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  169. 


CLOTHING  107 

TABLE  XXIX 

EXPENDITURE    IN    11,156    NORMAL    FAMILIES    FOB    CLOTHING    BY    SIZE    OF 

INCOME  * 

Income  Expenditure  per  family       Per  cent  total  expenditure 

Under  $200  $  17.00  8.68 

$200-$300  27.05  8.66 

$300-$400  38.94  10.02 

$400-$500  53.10  11.39 

$500-$600  64.69  11.98 

$600-$700  78.76  12.88 

$700-$800  93.52  13.50 

$800-$900  104.58  13.57 

$900-$1000  117.10  14.35 

$1000-$!  100  135.50  15.06 

interpreted  by  many  health  officers  as  being  an  indication 
of  lack  of  proper  clothing  for  bad  weather.  "  Good  water- 
proof footwear,"  says  Professor  H.  W.  Conn,  "must  be 
counted  among  the  best  life  preservers."  Another  import- 
ant factor  is  the  fit  of  clothing,  especially  the  garments 
of  children.  Tight  or  loose  shoes  cause  much  misery,  tight- 
ness elsewhere  may  harm  the  nerves  or  even  distort  the 
bones. 

Just  as  important  as  the  physical  influence  is  the  moral 
effect  of  inadequate  dress.  "Not  one  man  in  five  hundred^ 
not  one  woman  in  a  thousand  could  be  polite  in  old 
clothes,"  says  the  Rev.  Horace  Tilden.  Surely  this  is  an 
exaggeration  of  the  truth,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  for  many 
of  the  poor  church-going  and  calling  are  impossible.2 
When  families  are  so  poorly  clad  that  they  are  ashamed  ta 
visit  each  other  or  to  attend  public  assemblies,  they  are 
deprived  not  simply  of  a  real  and  legitimate  pleasure  but 
of  the  opportunity  to  attain  their  highest  social  and  moral 
possibilities. 

Just  as  pernicious,  in  its  way,  as  insufficient  clothing 
is  a  perverted  standard  of  dress.  "This  craving  for  many 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  592.  Average 
size  of  families  3.96  persons. 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  610. 


108  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

and  varied  dresses  among  the  daughters  of  the  working- 
men  is  fatal  to  social  progress.  It  devours  the  wage  of  the 
man,  condemns  many  women  to  a  single  life,  and  leads 
to  sterility  after  marriage.  The  gown  and  the  hat  bring 
domestic  infelicity  into  the  homes  of  men  who  are  anxious 
to  pay  their  bills  and  lead  an  honest  life."  *  It  would  be 
unfair  to  condemn  the  poor  for  their  perverted  taste,  yet 
there  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  working-girls  were  content 
with  less  gaudy  "rigs,"  they  would  be  better  clad  and 
would  have  more  money  left  for  other  vital  needs  —  better 
rooms,  or  better  food.2 

There  is  one  peculiar  feature  about  most  of  the  estimates 
of  the  necessary  minimum  of  expenditure  for  clothing  — 
no  mention  is  made  of  night  dress.  Now  this  is  significant. 
Miss  Van  Vorst  describes  the  Southern  cotton  hands  as 
sleeping  in  their  day  clothes  with  some  slight  removal  — 
shoes  for  instance.  Dr.  S.  A.  Knopf  says  that  tenement 
dwellers  often  sleep  in  their  underwear.3  This  practice  can 
have  no  defense  save  the  direst  poverty;  not  only  is  a  real 
risk  of  contracting  skin  diseases  run  by  those  who  keep 
the  same  garments  next  to  the  skin  day  and  night,  but 
their  sleep  is  not  so  refreshing,  they  are  not  so  well  fitted 
for  their  work  as  if  they  had  had  a  complete  change. 
Again  it  appears  that  many  of  the  poor  are  extravagant  in 
their  expenditure  for  dress  in  that  they  fail  to  take  advant- 
age of  the  second-hand  stores.  The  confidence,  however, 
with  which  young  people's  societies  undertake  one  rum- 
mage sale  after  another  attests  the  fact  that  many  others 
are  vigilant  for  good  bargains.  To  this  witness  Mrs.  More: 
"Some  housewives  feel  it  is  better  economy  to  buy  second- 
hand clothing,  especially  shoes  and  suits  of  clothes,  as  they 
are  often  of  better  quality  of  material  than  new  clothes 
for  the  same  price.  Others,  however,  resent  the  suggestion 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  pp.  97  and  98. 

*  This  is  vividly  portrayed  in  The  Long  Day. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  viii,  p.  169. 


CLOTHING  109 

that  they  would  buy  'cast-off  garments.'  The  clothing 
sales  at  the  settlements  and  churches  are  viewed  in  a 
different  light,  and  many  of  these  families'  expense  for 
clothing  was  greatly  reduced  by  these  opportunities  for 
buying  warm  and  durable  clothing  very  cheaply."  l 

To  sum  up,  clothing  is  necessary  to  conserve  energy,  to 
protect  the  body  from  the  effects  of  exposure  to  inclem- 
ent weather,  and  to  allow  men  the  proper  opportunity  for 
intellectual,  social,  and  moral  development.  One  hundred 
dollars  a  year  is  an  extremely  low  limit  for  the  necessary 
clothing  expense  of  a  household  of  five  members  in  the 
industrial  group:  probably  $120  is  as  low  as  this  minimum 
can  reasonably  be  set,  though  families  with  abnormally 
low  standards  of  living,  such  as  the  Southern  cotton 
operatives,  can  be  clad  in  some  fashion  for  half  that  sum. 
In  New  York  City  an  overwhelming  percentage  of  the 
families  in  the  low  income  groups  are  insufficiently  clothed, 
and  throughout  the  nation  it  is  highly  probable  that  a 
large  proportion  of  these  industrial  families  are  not  pro- 
perly attired.  This  inadequacy  of  dress  endangers  health 
and  inhibits  the  highest  intellectual  development;  ignor- 
ant tastes  lead  to  extravagance  and  pervert  the  standard 
of  living. 

1  More,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets,  p.  242. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THRIFT 

IT  has  been  found  that  foreign-born  laborers  of  Pittsburg 
can  live  on  $18  or  $20  per  month  and  lay  by  $10  to  $15  - 
they  are  the  lowest  class,  the  semi-skilled  can  save  $20  to 
Some  single  men  contrive  to  accumulate  as  much  as 
or  $400  per  annum,  and  married  men  may  be  even 
more  frugal.1  This  is  "thrift,"  providing  for  future  ease 
or  emergencies.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  standard  of 
living  should  in  every  case  include  some  provision  for  the 
future  —  but  for  most  families  saving  is  impossible.  Of 
the  391  families  treated  in  Dr.  Chapin's  book,  144,  or  37 
per  cent,  finished  the  year  with  expenditures  and  income 
within  $25  of  each  other;  they  just  barely  contrived  to 
live;  143,  or  36  per  cent,  accumulated  surpluses;  and  104, 
or  27  per  cent,  incurred  deficits.2  That  is,  more  than  a 
quarter  of  the  households  were  falling  behind  financially, 
and  only  slightly  more  than  a  third  could  succeed  in  sav- 
ing at  all.  Table  xxx  shows  that  only  26.1  per  cent  of 
the  families  with  incomes  between  $600  and  $1100  were 
able  to  lay  by  savings.  Of  the  25,440  families  canvassed 
in  the  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor,  12,816  had  surpluses  averaging  $120.84 
and  4117  had  deficits  whose  mean  size  was  $65.84.3  So 
a  little  over  half  of  these  families,  which  were,  in  all 
probability,  above  the  average  of  industrial  households, 
were  able  to  save  some  money  during  the  year.  It  may 
be  interesting  to  note  the  disposition  of  this  surplus.  An 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  547. 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  236. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  366. 


THRIFT  111 

TABLE  XXX 

SAVINGS  AND  INSURANCE  BY  INCOME1 

Number  offamiliet  Per  cent  offamiliei 

Income  group  taring  money  sating  money 

$600-699  10  15. 

700-799  16  20.3 

800-899  28  38.4 

900-999  15  23.8 

1000-1099  14  45.1 

Total  83  261 

intensive  study  was  made  of  2567  households,  of  whom 
1480  had  favorable  balances  in  their  accounts.  Of  these, 
491  families  retained  the  hard  cash,  682  deposited  in 
banks,  63  were  interested  in  building  and  loan  associa- 
tions, 42  invested  in  real  estate,  5  purchased  stocks,  60 
paid  old  debts,  3  made  loans,  and  134  failed  to  report.2 
Thus  the  propensity  to  use  the  banks  appears  to  have 
been  very  strong,  but  no  distinction  is  made  in  the  re- 
turns between  savings  institutions  and  the  ordinary 
commercial  banks.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  on 
the  thirtieth  of  June,  1909,  there  were  in  the  United  States 
1703  savings-banks,  with  8,831,863  depositors.  The  de- 
posits amounted  to  $3,713,405,709,  or  an  average  of 
$420.45  per  depositor.  In  spite  of  the  financial  stringency 
of  1907-08  this  average  was  only  $10  less  than  it  had  been 
in  1907,  $.45  more  than  in  1908.8  The  effect  of  prosperity 
on  the  savings-banks  is  extremely  complicated.  In  hard 
times,  the  poor  have  an  increased  realization  of  the  value 
of  money,  appreciate  the  desirability  of  saving,  and  make 
deposits.  The  rich,  on  the  other  hand,  see  opportunities 
to  purchase  securities  at  low  prices,  and  so  withdraw  their 
funds.  In  good  times  most  of  the  poor  find  it  comparatively 
easy  to  increase  their  accounts,  but  many  of  them  are 
tempted  to  make  withdrawals  in  order  to  buy  homes. 

1  The  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  243. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  512. 

»  Tribune  Almanac,  1910,  p.  161. 


112  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

During  prosperous  periods  the  well-to-do  find  that  they 
can  secure  higher  returns  if  they  deposit  in  the  savings- 
banks  than  if  they  purchase  securities  at  the  inflated  valu- 
ations prevailing  on  the  market,  so  their  accounts  tend  to 
grow.  Just  what  the  net  result  of  all  these  forces  will  be 
can  never  be  foretold.1 

This  is  no  place  for  a  full  discussion  of  the  theory  of 
savings;  but  it  may  be  well  to  call  to  mind  a  few  central 
facts.  Unless  money  is  hoarded,  it  eventually,  when  saved, 
finds  its  way  into  industry;  as  capital,  it  tends  to  quicken 
production.  Thus  the  laborer  who  saves  is  doing  his  little 
share  to  make  his  own  employment  more  certain,  or  his 
wages  higher.  If  a  man  exerts  himself  to  accumulate 
money,  the  chances  are,  especially  if  he  be  a  piece-worker, 
that  he  will  heighten  his  efficiency  partly  by  increased 
effort,  partly  by  avoiding  dissipation.  Moreover,  in  the 
present  uncertain  conditions  of  employment,  savings  are 
of  the  greatest  value  as  a  resource  in  times  of  emergency. 
There  comes  a  time  in  every  normal  industrial  life  when 
earning  power  is  much  decreased;  then  the  wages  of  the 
past,  enlarged  by  safe  investment,  will  be  a  bulwark 
against  suffering.  If  the  great  mass  of  men  demand  that 
their  income  be  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  accumulate 
against  a  "rainy  day,"  their  standard  of  living  will  be 
high  and  will  tend  to  raise  wages.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
saving  is  possible,  at  the  first  stringency  the  employer 
will  consider  himself  justified  in  reducing  remuneration. 
There  are,  then,  two  sides  to  the  wages  question  in  its 
relation  to  saving. 

Not  only  does  saving  strengthen  the  economic  position 
of  the  laborer,  it  also  educates  him.  "A  man  who  is  on  the 
margin  of  indebtedness  or  in  debt  cannot  spend  intellig- 
ently, for  it  is  only  when  he  has  laid  aside  something  that 
he  can  control  his  market,  and,  as  Mr.  Mackay  says,  by 

1  C.  F.  Streightoff,  Secretary  of  Dimes  Savings  Bank,  Brooklyn; 
see  also  Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  95. 


THRIFT  113 

his  thrifty  expenditure  both  increase  a  demand  for  com- 
modities and  increase  and  equalize  the  purchasing  power 
of  his  community."  l  That  is,  a  man,  who  has  reserve 
resources  can  better  apportion  his  expenditures  than  one 
whose  every  dollar  is  bespoken  before  it  is  earned.  The 
incentive  to  saving  is  the  desire  for  future  enjoyment.  The 
saver  is  led  to  a  consideration  of  the  future  and  to  a  will- 
ingness to  make  present  sacrifice.  "Savings  very  seldom 
increase  lines  of  consumption  which  are  physically  weak- 
ening, and  its  discipline  neutralizes  the  relish  for  indulg- 
ences which  unlock  the  animal  nature  and  lead  to  a 
weakening  of  mental  and  physical  power.  Immediate 
wants  are  largely  low  and  sensual,  and  the  practice  of  ab- 
stemiousness is  likely  to  result  in  a  diminished  use  of 
whiskey  and  tobacco,  and  in  larger  expenditures  for  char- 
acter-building goods."2  Thus  thrift  instills  in  men  higher 
wants.  The  habit  of  saving  can  be  cultivated  in  school- 
children to  good  advantage;  they  will  learn  the  pleasures 
of  obtaining  something  big  and  really  worth  while,  if  they 
have  to  deny  themselves  the  pleasure  of  spending  their 
pennies  on  candy  —  incidentally  their  health  will  benefit. 

Saving,  then,  can  be  looked  upon  as  a  force  tending  to 
raise  the  standard  of  living  by  swelling  the  resources  of  the 
laborer  and  by  increasing  his  aspirations.  However,  "it 
is  not  a  wise  economy  which  tends  to  lower  the  vitality  of 
any  member  of  the  family  in  order  that  provision  may  be 
made  for  the  future." 3  That  saving  is  sometimes  achieved 
at  the  sacrifice  of  necessities  is  a  fact  which  must  be 
admitted;  yet,  on  the  whole,  this  practice  of  thrift,  this 
provision  for  the  future,  is  one  of  the  most  important  means 
of  bettering  social  conditions. 

Among  the  most  prominent  of  the  agencies  for  the 
encouragement  of  thrift  are  savings-banks,  "institutions 

1  Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  3. 

1  Hamilton,  Savings  and  Savings  Institutions,  p.  35. 

J  Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  7. 


114  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

established  by  public  authority,  or  by  private  persons,  in 
order  to  encourage  habits  of  saving  by  affording  special 
security  to  owners  of  deposits,  and  by  payment  of  interest 
to  the  full  extent  of  the  net  earnings,  less  whatever  reserve 
the  management  may  deem  expedient  for  a  safety  fund; 
and  in  furtherance  of  this  purpose  bank  offices  are  located 
at  places  where  they  are  calculated  to  encourage  savings 
among  those  persons  who  most  need  such  encouragement."  l 

Since  the  savings-banks  are  willing  to  receive  deposits 
of  almost  any  degree  of  insignificance  any  week-day,  and 
frequently  open  their  doors  some  evening  after  pay-day, 
they  are  very  convenient  for  people  of  small  means.  More- 
over, as  a  matter  of  practical  fact,  money  can  be  with- 
drawn almost  at  will.  Since  there  are  usually  no  stock- 
holders, all  the  profits,  with  the  exception  of  the  reserve 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  institution,  are  distributed 
among  the  depositors;  this  is  a  powerful  attracting  force. 
Finally,  since  state  governments  closely  supervise  the 
operations  of  the  banks,  deposits  are  almost  absolutely 
safe.  "The  savings-bank,  as  an  institution,  represents  the 
most  conservative,  the  most  logical,  and  the  most  hopeful 
scheme  for  bettering  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes."2 
Yet  the  savings-banks  are  confined  largely  to  the  cities  of 
a  few  states.  Thus  their  beneficent  influence  is  decidedly 
limited.  Whether  the  postal  savings-banks  will  succeed  in 
developing  habits  of  thrift,  the  future  alone  can  show. 

That  "no  one  class  of  provident  institutions  in  this 
country,  perhaps,  has  contributed  more  largely  than  have 
building  and  loan  associations  to  the  material  welfare  of 
that  portion  of  our  citizens  dependent  on  a  daily  wage  for 
support,"  3  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  G.  W.  W.  Hanger,  who 
has  made  an  exhaustive  study  of  this  subject.  In  1903, 
there  were  5350  of  these  associations  in  the  United  States, 

1  Hamilton,  Savings  and  Savings  Institutions,  p.  161. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  4528. 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  55,  p.  149  ff. 


THRIFT  115 

with  assets  of  $599,550,855,  but  the  movement  seems  to 
have  reached  its  culmination  before  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century.  Possibly  one  reason  for  the  recent 
retrogression  is  the  fact,  before  alluded  to,  that  it  is  be- 
coming positively  disadvantageous  for  many  workingmen 
to  hold  title  to  their  own  homes.  The  building  and  loan 
associations  offer  advantages  to  small  borrowers,  compel, 
with  lenient  force,  regular  savings,  make  withdrawal 
difficult,  though  not  impossible,  encourage  building,  and 
earn  large  interest.1  Their  management  has  been  singu- 
larly free  from  incompetence  and  dishonesty,2  and  they 
have  undoubtedly  accomplished  valuable  results,  espe- 
cially in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  where  they  have  had 
their  greatest  successes.  There  are,  however,  certain  dis- 
advantages connected  with  the  building  and  loan  associa- 
tions. They  compel  payments  at  specified  periods,  and  do 
not  readily  adapt  themselves  to  deposits  of  any  size  at 
any  time.  If  a  borrower  dies  before  his  home  is  paid  for, 
his  family  may  lose  all.  Withdrawal  is  a  little  too  difficult; 
in  fact,  the  whole  system  is  inelastic.  Yet  there  are  addi- 
tional advantages  to  counteract  these  drawbacks.  The 
building  and  loan  associations  are  more  inexpensively 
administered  than  the  savings-banks;  the  men  who  buy 
stock  direct  their  own  affairs,  and  so  have  the  educational 
advantages  of  conducting  business  operations.  A  balance 
between  the  merits  of  the  savings-banks  and  of  the  build- 
ing and  loan  associations  is  very  hard  to  strike;  each  has 
its  own  proper  sphere,  each  contributes  to  the  progress  of 
the  industrial  people. 

There  is  still  another  form  of  saving  —  insurance.  The 
unexpected  —  death  or  accident  —  is  so  apt  to  happen  to 
any  individual  before  he  can  accumulate  any  funds  at  all, 
while  his  children  are  requiring  the  expenditure  of  every 
cent  he  earns,  that  it  is  necessary  to  form  some  plan  of 

1  Hamilton,  Savings  and  Savings  Institutions,  p.  129  f. 
1  Hanger,  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  55,  p.  1578. 


116  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

providing  in  advance  for  the  mishap.  The  loss  is  divided 
over  a  large  number  of  people  by  what  is  known  as  insur- 
ance. The  wide  vogue  of  life  insurance  among  New  York 
working  people  is  recorded  in  Table  xxxi. 

TABLE  XXXI 

FAMILIES   CARRYING   PERSONAL  INSURANCE   OP   $500   OR  MORE  1 


Income  group 

Persons  insured 
Number     Per  cent 

Average  persons 
•per  family 

Average  premium* 
per  family 

$400-499 

2 

25. 

1.3 

500-599 

4 

23.5 

.6 

600-699 

38 

52.8 

1.7 

$13.05 

700-799 

53 

67.1 

2.6 

18.24 

800-899 

37 

50.7 

2.2 

17.62 

900-999 

43 

68.2 

2.5 

23.71 

1000-1099 

20 

64.6 

2.3 

25.46 

Total 

210 

53.7 

2.2 

But  the  insurance  carried  by  these  people  was  the  so- 
called  "old  line,"  or  ordinary  insurance,  the  policies 
amounting  to  $500,  or  over.  Only  these  were  tabulated, 
with  the  express  purpose  of  excluding  from  consideration 
"industrial  insurance."  Technically  industrial  insurance 
is  petty  insurance  sold  at  retail.  Payments  are  generally 
made  weekly  in  sums  of  from  five  to  fifty  cents,  usually 
five  or  ten  cents  per  person.  The  business  is  solicited  by 
agents  who  commonly  visit  the  homes  each  week  to  collect 
the  premiums,  thus  sparing  the  overworked  housewives 
the  trouble  of  calling  at  a  central  office.  If  wages  are  high 
and  regular,  the  mother  may  take  the  opportunity  to  carry 
an  additional  policy,  and,  when  times  are  hard,  she  may 
have  to  reduce  her  outlay  for  premiums  by  five  cents  or  so. 
Such  insurance  manifestly  has  many  advantages:  it  is 
within  the  reach  of  all;  the  never-failing  visit  of  the  col- 
lector makes  the  people  remember  that  they  must  pay 
regularly  and  promptly,  and  thus  there  is  an  indirect 
educational  and  moral  advantage;  men,  women,  and 
children,  the  entire  family,  may  be  insured;  prompt  pay- 

1  Taken  from  the  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  pp.  195,  197. 


THRIFT  117 

ment  is  made  in  case  of  death,  the  policies  being  incontest- 
able after  one  or  two  years  and  payable  within  twenty-four 
hours  of  proof  of  death;  the  beneficiary  may  be  changed 
at  any  time  and  is  sure  to  receive  the  full  benefit  unless  the 
premiums  are  more  than  four  weeks  in  arrears;  and  a 
lapsed  policy  may  be  renewed  within  a  year  if  the  holder 
is  healthy  and  pays  his  arrearages.1  Senator  Dryden  says: 
"The  system  of  industrial  insurance  is  in  my  mind  the 
greatest  educator  of  thrift  that  has  ever  been  introduced 
to  the  American  public,  and  is  continually  operating  in  the 
direction  of  uplifting  the  working,  the  industrial  people 
as  we  call  them,  and  inculcating  in  them  a  higher  degree 
of  self-respect." 2  He  further  states  that  no  other  form  of 
saving  is  practicable  among  the  poor,  that  by  this  system 
children  are  taught  the  value  of  insurance,  and  that  the 
agent  becomes  in  many  cases  the  intimate  friend  and  able 
adviser  of  the  families.  He  also  affirms  that  industrial 
insurance  has  reduced  the  rate  of  pauper  burials  in  eight- 
een American  cities  from  an  average  of  18.5  per  ten  thou- 
sand inhabitants  for  the  years  1881  to  1885,  to  12.9  for 
the  years  1897  to  1901. 3  One  other  fact  apparently  proves 
the  practical  utility  of  industrial  insurance,  its  great  popu- 
larity. In  some  cities  there  are  nearly  as  many  policies  as 
there  are  people;4  in  Newark,  for  instance,  among  a  popu- 
lation of  231,000  there  were  at  one  time  222,013  policies 
in  force.5  In  the  United  States  at  large  there  were,  in  1906, 
5,792,956  old  line  policies  and  17,841,396  industrial  poli- 
cies. So  great  numbers  of  the  poor  are  actually  reached. 

Thus  far  industrial  insurance  appears  to  be  a  very 
worthy  thing,  and  there  is  nothing  intrinsically  wrong  in 
the  idea  of  selling  this  precious  commodity  in  such  small 

Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  67,  p.  793  S. 
Testimony  before    the  New  York   State    Insurance  Investigation 
Committee,  vol.  vi,  p.  4946  ff. 

American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xiii,  p.  360  (quoted). 

Haley  Fisk,  New  York  Insurance  Investigation,  vol.  vi,  p.  5049  ff. 

Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  167. 


118 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


quantities  that  even  the  poor  may  enjoy  its  beneficent  in- 
fluence. Yet  there  are  certain  features  of  the  institution 
that  are  not  so  commendable.  In  the  first  place,  the  price 
of  such  retail  insurance  is  set  very  high. 

TABLE  XXXII 

INSURANCE  SOLD  FOB  $1,   OBDINABT  AND   INDUSTBIAL  POLICIES1 


Percent 

Per  cent 

Age 

Industrial 

Ordinary 

txceii 

Age 

Industrial 

Ordinary 

excen 

21 

32.31 

65.36 

102 

41 

18.85 

36.98 

96 

25 

29.23 

59.67 

104 

45 

16.15 

31.78 

97 

30 

25.77 

52.41 

103 

50 

13.46 

25.75 

91 

35 

22.69 

45.25 

99 

55 

10.77 

20.42 

90 

40 

19.23 

38.31 

99 

60 

8.46 

15.83 

87 

Table  xxxii  compares  the  cost  of  the  ordinary  and 
the  industrial  insurance.  It  is  there  developed  that  the 
industrial  form  costs  from  90  to  100  per  cent  more  per 
dollar  of  benefit  than  the  insurance  which  the  well-to-do 
can  afford  to  purchase.  This  is  really  an  enormous  differ- 
ence, and  there  must  be  some  good  ground  for  the  poor 
having  to  pay  so  much  excess. 

There  are  various  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  the  cost  of 
writing  an  industrial  policy  is  very  large  in  proportion  to 
the  premium  receipts;  about  fifty  per  cent  of  these  policies 
lapse  within  the  first  year,  and  seventy  per  cent  before 
their  third  anniversary  is  reached.  The  commissions  to 
solicitors,  collectors,  and  those  who  write  up  the  policies 
are  so  great  that  no  policy  is  self-supporting  until  it  has 
been  in  force  for  three  years.  Thus  seventy  per  cent  of  all 
business  undertaken  by  the  industrial  companies  is  car- 
ried at  a  loss.2  The  other  thirty  per  cent  of  the  premium 
payers  must  bear  the  entire  burden.  Then,  too,  on  account 
of  expense  no  thorough  medical  examination  is  made,  and 
so  the  risks  are  not  as  good  as  in  ordinary  insurance.  The 

1  Taken  from  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  67,  p.  790. 
*  Senator  Dryden,  New  York  Insurance  Investigation  Commission,  vol. 
vi,  p.  4890  ff. 


THRIFT  119 

tmdesirability  of  the  risks  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  no 
occupations  are  normally  excluded,  and  no  addition  is  made 
to  the  charge  of  men  engaged  in  excessively  dangerous 
work.  The  fees  are  so  small  and  so  many  that  the  machin- 
ery of  bookkeeping  is  of  necessity  very  complicated.  Then, 
too,  the  maintenance  and  supervision  of  an  army  of  col- 
lectors, large  enough  to  make  thirteen  million  visits  every 
week,  is  no  inexpensive  undertaking.1  Thus  the  cost  of 
administering  industrial  insurance  is  40  per  cent  of  the 
premiums;  compare  this  with  the  expense  of  administer- 
ing the  funds  of  savings-banks,  1  per  cent  to  1.3  per 
cent  of  the  year's  deposits  and  0.28  per  cent  of  the  total 
assets.2  Add  to  these  facts,  which  make  necessary  high 
charges,  the  testimony  of  an  official  that  one  of  the  largest 
life  insurance  companies  made  no  profit  on  its  old  line 
policies,  but  paid  its  dividends  entirely  from  its  industrial 
business,3  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  premiums  are 
exorbitant  —  far  in  excess  of  the  value  of  the  return.  The 
charges  for  sick,  accident,  and  combination  policies  at 
retail  are  almost  as  high.4 

But  there  are  other  pernicious  features  of  industrial 
insurance.  "Burial  money  —  that  is  the  be  all  and  end 
all  of  insurance  among  the  poor.  The  little  weekly  pre- 
miums are  not  investments,  are  not  hoardings,  but  are  a 
pious  provision  for  decency  and  propriety  in  the  hour  and 
article  of  death." 6  This  attitude  seems  to  be  universal. 
Instead  of  alleviating  the  lot  of  the  widow  and  orphan, 
industrial  insurance  is  used  to  pay  one  last  grand  tribute 
to  the  "dear  departed,"  other  use  would  be  desecration; 
it  would  seem  that  those  left  behind  "did  not  mean  well 
by  him."  Again,  many  families  insure  that  have  no  moral 

1  Senator  Dryden,  New  York  Insurance  Investigation  Commission,  vol. 
vi,  p.  4876  ff. 

8  Brandeis,  Independent,  vol.  Ixi,  p.  1479. 

1  New  York  Insurance  Investigation  Commission,  vol.  vi,  p.  5053. 

«  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  67,  p.  807  ff. 

«  Ibid.,  no.  64.  p.  614. 


120  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

right  to  do  so;  they  are  not  properly  fed.  "The  very  fact, 
however,  that  the  premium  payments  are  discontinued 
shows  that  the  class  which  is  insured  either  lacks  the  avail- 
able means  to  become  policy-holders  or  are  too  thriftless 
to  persist  in  saving.  In  either  case,  the  investment  has  been 
demoralizing  to  the  intermittent  saver.  It  has  withdrawn 
from  immediate  consumption  a  much-needed  part  of  the 
weekly  wage,  or,  because  unpersisted  in,  has  reacted  un- 
favorably on  the  quondam  policy-holder."1 

Insurance  is  furnished  in  other  ways.  Some  of  the  labor 
unions  have  instituted  systems  of  benefits,  notably  the 
seven  unions  in  the  railroad  brotherhood.2  However,  this 
insurance  by  organizations  of  employees  has  often  been 
conducted  without  regard  to  the  best  actuarial  methods, 
and  has  sometimes  proven  disastrous.8 

Some  proportion,  then,  of  the  industrial  class  contrives 
to  accumulate  money,  which,  except  in  unusual  circum- 
stances, is  a  very  desirable  practice.  Savings-banks  and 
building  and  loan  associations  are  excellent  agencies  for  the 
encouragement  of  thrift;  but  the  form  of  insurance  within 
the  means  of  laborers,  though  it  offers  some  superficial 
advantages,  is  exorbitantly  expensive  and  is  perverted  in 
use.  Thus  industrial  insurance  has  probably  been  injuri- 
ous to  most  of  its  supposed  beneficiaries.  The  welfare  work 
of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  —  with  its 
system  of  education,  and  nursing,  and  its  plans  for  sana- 
toria —  is  efficacious  in  swinging  the  balance  the  other 
way. 

1  Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  167. 

2  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xii,  p.  756  ff. 
1  Ibid.,  vol.  xii,  p.  717  ff. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HEALTH 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  shown  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  industrial  people  in  the  United  States 
are  inadequately  fed,  others  live  in  tenements  which  can- 
not for  a  minute  be  considered  worthy  the  name  of  homes, 
and  still  others  are  insufficiently  clothed.  These  classes 
in  fact  are  by  no  means  mutually  exclusive:  it  is  certain 
that  many  laborers  suffer  from  scanty  satisfaction  of  all 
three  of  these  wants  at  the  same  time.  In  connection  with 
each  of  these  subjects  it  has  been  remarked  that  an  impair- 
ment of  health  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  failure  to 
meet  a  definite  minimum  of  requirements.  It  is  now  time 
to  inquire  just  what  are  the  conditions  of  physical  sound- 
ness among  the  working  people. 

There  is  no  necessity  of  emphasizing  the  importance  of 
maintaining  the  body  in  perfect  working  order  —  the 
commercial  value  of  health  is  widely  recognized :  but  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to  recall  one  or  two  facts.  Of  the  2567  fam- 
ilies intensively  studied  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor  in  1901, 
1969,  or  76.70  per  cent,  were  compelled  to  make  expend- 
itures on  account  of  sickness  and  death,  the  average 
outlay  being  $26.78. l  A  further  light  on  the  r61e  that 
disease  plays  in  the  life  of  the  industrial  people  is  con- 
tained in  Table  xxxin. 

Not  12  per  cent  of  the  New  York  families  could  escape 
some  expenditure  for  combating  sickness;  55  per  cent  of 
the  families  suffered  from  serious  illness,  and  34  per  cent 
received  free  medical  attendance.  It  was  probably  largely 

1  18th  Annual  Report  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  503, 505, 
£09. 


122 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


due  to  the  convenience  of  the  Free  Dispensaries  that  New 
York  poor  spent,  on  the  average,  less  than  the  families  in 
the  United  States  at  large  for  the  sake  of  health,  although 
the  fact  that  the  data  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  in- 
cluded funeral  expenses  under  the  same  head  helps  to 
account  for  the  difference.  Whatever  else  may  be  de- 
duced from  these  data,  it  is  evident  that  expenditures  for 
health  do  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  family  budget,  a 


TABLE  XXXIII 

HEALTH1 

Income  group 

Without 

expenditure 
for  health 

Caiei  of  ten- 
out  illness 

Free  medi- 
cal aid 

Expenditure 
for  dentist 

Average  expendi- 
ture for  health 

No. 

Per 
cent 

No. 

Per 

cent 

No. 

Per 

cent 

No. 

Per 

cent 

$400-499 

1 

13 

5 

63 

6 

75 

2 

25 

500-599 

3 

18 

9 

53 

7 

41 

2 

12 

600-699 

7 

10 

41 

57 

29 

40 

8 

11 

13.78 

700-799 

11 

14 

47 

59 

30 

38 

12 

15 

14.02 

800-899 

7 

10 

42 

58 

30 

41 

12 

17 

22.19 

900-999 

7 

11 

34 

54 

19 

30 

12 

19 

23.30 

1000-1099 

5 

16 

15 

48 

5 

16 

7 

23 

14.80 

1100-1199 

9 

50 

3 

16 

6 

33 

Total 

46 

11.8 

217 

55 

132 

34 

67 

16 

very  important  part  when  it  is  realized  that  the  outlay 
for  food,  clothing,  and  housing  is  fundamentally  expendi- 
ture for  the  preservation  of  bodily  soundness. 

"Economically  viewed,  health  is  that  state  in  which  a 
person  exists  fully  able,  without  suffering,  to  do  what  he 
has  to  do."  "Health  and  strength,  physical,  mental,  and 
moral,  are  the  basis  of  industrial  efficiency,  on  which  de- 
pends the  production  of  material  well  being."2  Unless  one 
is  physically  fit,  he  cannot  perform  comfortably  and  accept- 
ably his  apportioned  task.  But,  in  a  sense,  mere  economic 
efficiency  is  the  least  reason  for  desiring  sound  health. 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  190. 
*  F.  L.  Hoffman,  A.  A.  A.,  xxvii,  p.  465. 


HEALTH  123 

Since  the  children  of  weak  parents  may  exhibit  a  tendency 
toward  degeneration  of  some  sort,  physical  perfection  is 
vital  to  the  future  of  the  race.  Man,  moreover,  is  in  him- 
self worth  while.  Handicapped  by  weakness,  he  cannot 
enjoy  life,  he  cannot  develop  to  his  greatest  moral  and  in- 
tellectual possibilities.  If  the  requisites  for  business  suc- 
cess are  "a  cold  heart  and  a  good  digestion,"  the  condi- 
tion of  a  happy  life  is  a  warm  heart  and  a  sound  body. 

Among  the  most  important  industrial  conditions  affect- 
ing health  are  the  hours  of  toil.  In  1900,  a  study  of  this 
subject  was  made  by  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics.  "To  state  exactly  in  a  single  term  the  duration 
of  the  average  working  day  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  an  entire  country  is  manifestly  impossible,"1 
yet  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure  a  crude  mean.  The 
result  fixed  the  average  working  day  as  eight  hours  for 
Australasia,  nine  for  Great  Britain,  and  nine  and  three- 
quarters  for  the  United  States;  all  other  countries,  save 
Denmark,  had  more  prolonged  periods  of  exertion.  The 
movement  to  shorten  the  day's  labor,  begun  as  early  as 
1825  in  New  York,  has  continued  intermittently  ever 
since,  and  the  duration  of  toil  is  still  decreasing.2  Long 
hours  result  in  physical  and  mental  fatigue,  in  the  accumu- 
lation in  the  system  of  poisonous  wastes,  and  often  in 
hypertrophy  and  enlargement  of  the  heart.  The  sym- 
metrical development  of  young  people  who  work  during 
extended  periods  of  time  is  often  inhibited,  and  racial 
deterioration  is  threatened.  Sickness  and  death  find  easy 
victims  in  those  who  labor  excessively,  and,  the  body  being 
exhausted  in  about  the  fifth  hour  of  toil,  accidents  are  then 
frequent.  Long  hours,  too,  promote  the  use  of  stimulants,3 
and  tend  to  destroy  family  life.4  Another  effect  of  pro- 

1  Annual  Report  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1900,  p.  42. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  3  ff. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  60. 

4  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  xiv,  p.  652. 


124  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

longed  exertion  is  observed  in  the  Southern  cotton  mills, 
where  many  men  will  not  work  more  than  three  or  four 
days  a  week,  and  the  help  is  very  hard  to  retain  because 
of  the  unpopularity  of  long  hours.1  Miss  Van  Vorst  cites 
a  pathetic  little  story  illustrating  the  effect  of  unremitting 
toil  on  a  child,  who  professed  to  like  nothing  better  than 
reading  when  she  was  not  tired.  She  was  asked  if  she  were 
often  fatigued.  "And  this  question  surprises  her.  She 
looks  up  at  me  and  smiles.  '  Why  I  'm  always  tyrd.  I  read 
novels  for  the  most  part;  like  to  read  love  stories  and  about 
fo'ran  travel.'"2  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  excessive 
labor  dwarfs  the  victims  physically  and  intellectually. 

Were  they  necessary  for  the  support  of  mankind,  all 
these  evil  effects  of  the  long  day  could  be  endured,  but 
there  is  wide  ground  for  the  belief  that  without  substan- 
tial detriment  to  industry  less  time  could  be  required  of 
laborers.  Robert  Owen  was  able  to  make  his  business 
profitable  with  three  hours  less  of  daily  running  time  than 
his  competitors.  After  recounting  some  experiments  with 
the  shorter  working  day,  Mr.  John  Rae  says,  "Now  all 
this  story  of  the  gradual  abbreviation  of  the  day  of  labor 
in  the  chief  manufacturing  countries  of  the  world,  show- 
ing, as  it  plainly  does,  how  each  successive  reduction  from 
fourteen  hours  to  twelve,  from  twelve  to  ten,  from  ten  to 
nine,  has  always  been  met  by  unexpected  resources  con- 
tained in  the  minds  and  muscles  of  the  laborers  themselves, 
naturally  suggests  the  question  whether  those  resources 
may  not  again  respond  to  fresh  reduction,  and  whether 
the  best  and  most  profitable  limit  for  the  day  of  labor  may 
not  be  found  below  the  nine  hours  line."3  "Now  it  may 
pay  the  capitalist  to  work  his  men  twelve  hours  a  day  for 
twenty  years  rather  than  eight  hours  a  day  for  thirty  or 
forty  years,  but  it  certainly  does  'not  pay'  the  com- 

7  1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1905,  p.  73  and  p.  64. 
*  Van  Vorst:  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  263. 
1  Rae,  Eight  Hours  for  Labor,  p.  43. 


HEALTH  185 

munity.  In  the  former  case,  the  workman  can  be  regarded 
as  little  more  than  a  working  animal,  and  the  twenty  or 
thirty  years  that  he  lives  beyond  the  period  of  active  work 
arrive  too  late  for  him  to  enjoy  them  as  a  social  being  who 
can  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  the  community.  In 
the  second  case,  the  workman  would  not  only  produce 
more  material  good  in  his  lifetime  but  would  always  be  an 
active  citizen,  interested  in  the  higher  life  of  the  commun- 
ity." L  Some  employers  consider  all  work  beyond  nine, 
or  even  eight  hours,  a  mistaken  policy.2  The  short  day 
that  gives  Massachusetts  the  best  workmen  in  the  country 
is  necessary  to  maintain  America's  high  industrial  posi- 
tion.3 So  relief  from  prolonged  toil  is  not  only  beneficial 
to  the  industrial  people  physically,  morally,  and  intellect- 
ually, but  is  possible,  at  least  in  many  branches  of  manu- 
facture, without  loss  of  productivity. 

Closely  akin  to  the  evil  of  long  hours  is  the  shortening 
of  trade  life  caused  by  excessively  arduous  labor.  "A 
general  complaint  comes  from  all  trades  unions  and  from 
workers  in  all  occupations  respecting  this  shortening  of 
trade  life."4  Boys  frequently  commence  work  while  too 
young,  reach  their  maximum  efficiency  between  the  ages 
of  twenty  and  thirty-five,  and  are  old  or  worn  out  by  forty 
or  fifty.5  The  glass-blower,  for  example,  could  formerly 
expect  to  execute  good  work  up  to  the  age  of  sixty,  but 
now,  though  he  produces  almost  twice  as  many  bottles 
in  a  day,  he  cannot  continue  at  his  trade  after  he  has 
passed  fifty,  or  at  the  most  the  fifty-five  year  mark.' 
"The  other  day  a  big  corporation  passed  a  law  that  here- 
after it  will  not  employ  a  man  who  is  over  forty." 7  "This 

1  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1900,  p.  67. 

2  Brooks,  Social  Unrest,  p.  249. 

1  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1900,  p.  68. 
4  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xix,  p.  733. 

6  Hayes,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxvii,  p.  496. 

•  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  rix,  p.  763. 

7  Letters  from  a  Working  Man,  p.  152. 


126  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

tendency  to  reject  a  man  because  of  age  is  growing  among 
employers,  and,  whether  as  a  business  policy  it  may  be 
right  or  wrong,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  bringing  the  middle- 
aged  man  in  ever  increasing  numbers  face  to  face  with  the 
grim  problem  of  how  the  necessaries  of  existence  are  to 
be  provided  for  the  remainder  of  his  life."  "The  average 
woman  who  earns  her  living  as  a  domestic  is  commercially 
dead  after  she  is  forty-five  years  of  age.  There  is  no  place 
for  a  man  fifty  years  of  age,  if  he  is  a  common  laborer,  if 
he  shows  his  age." 2  The  testimony  to  this  shortening  of 
the  trade  life  is  universal;  even  hair  dyes  are  frequently 
resorted  to  by  desperate  men  who  cannot  postpone  be- 
coming gray-headed.3  This  whole  problem  is  fundament- 
ally one  of  health;  by  long  hours,  mercilessly  exacting 
machinery,  severe  competition,  and  unhygienic  conditions 
of  labor,  men  are  prematurely  aged;  their  nerves  are 
quickly  ruined.4  As  it  is  advantageous  to  individual  em- 
ployers to  profit  from  the  labor  of  children  so  it  is  prob- 
ably a  good  "business"  policy  to  use  up  workmen  and 
quickly  replace  them  with  new,  fresh  hands.  All  this 
means  a  waste  of  productive  power  of  human  labor,  it 
means  that  middle-aged  men  will  be  forced  into  idleness, 
thus  increasing  the  throng  of  paupers.  Old  people  will 
either  be  dependent  on  their  children  or  will  have  to  seek 
public  aid,  for,  in  present  circumstances,  they  cannot  save 
enough  to  support  themselves  in  their  years  of  decline. 
Thus  there  will  be  suffering  among  the  people  and  a  tend- 
ency for  young  children  to  be  sent  to  work.  Not  only  are 
the  American  industrial  people  often  under-fed,  under- 
clothed,  and  under-housed;  they  are  forced  to  toil  under 
severe  nervous  strain,  are  early  worn  out,  and  then  they 
are  cast  aside.  Surely  it  is  not  a  pleasant  prospect  to  work 

1  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1902,  p.  213. 

1  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xix,  p.  733.  See  also  xv,  223. 

*  O'Connell,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  rxvii,  p.  493  ff. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  494. 


HEALTH  127 

desperately  hard  and  look  forward  all  the  while  to  an  old 
age  of  decrepit,  or  inactive  destitution. 

Another  factor  that  enters  vitally  into  the  life  of  the 
working  people  is  accidents.  Newsholm  said  that  in  the 
London  dock-yards  one  man  in  every  six  was  seriously 
hurt  during  the  year.  On  the  railroads,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  decade,  one  trainman  in  every  137  was  annu- 
ally killed,  and  one  in  every  eleven  injured;  one  employee 
in  every  399  met  his  death  in  service,  and  one  in  every 
twenty-six  was  wounded.1  In  1904  the  railways  killed 
3632  and  injured  67,067  of  their  own  employees,  their 
total  destructive  power,  however,  was  to  be  measured  by 
10,046  lives  and  84,155  injuries.2  It  used  to  be  conserva- 
tively estimated  that  the  number  killed  and  wounded  in 
industry  in  the  United  States  was  half  a  million  a  year.3  No 
less  an  authority  than  Mr.  F.  L.  Hoffman  estimates  that 
there  were  in  1908  between  30,000  and  35,000  fatal  industrial 
accidents  in  the  United  States  and  two  million  non-fatal 
accidents.4  If  industry  would  prevent  the  misery  which 
follows  these  mishaps,  the  situation  might  bear  a  slightly 
different  aspect,  but  the  fact  is,  that  these  accidents  cause 
an  untold  amount  of  suffering.  In  Michigan,  for  instance, 
in  1906,  827  accidents  were  reported,  in  428  of  which  the 
victims  were  married  men.  Sixty  were  killed  and  342 
severely  injured;  yet  to  only  193  were  wages  paid  during 
disability,  and  315  were  helped  by  benefits  from  other 
sources.5  The  significance  is  clear;  when  a  man  is  injured, 
in  eighty  per  cent  of  the  cases,  his  pay  is  discontinued. 
Sometimes  he  has  other  resources  —  industrial  insurance, 
benefit  societies,  employer's  liability,  yet,  as  a  rule,  these 

1  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xix,  p.  913. 

2  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Statistics  of  the  Railways  of  the 
United  States,  1904,  p.  104. 

*  Reeve,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvii,  p.  803,  and  Hammond, 
Workmen's  Compensation. 

4  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  78,  p.  458. 
8  Michigan,  Bureau  of  Labor,  1907,  p.  293. 


128  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

are  wholly  inadequate  to  his  wants.  The  result  is  he  suf- 
fers; if  he  is  married,  his  family  endures  distress.  Nine 
families  in  every  ten  in  Europe  require  aid  after  an  indus- 
trial accident.1  What  assistance  do  they  receive?  Take 
the  death  of  the  wage-earner  as  the  emergency  which 
calls  for  the  greatest  amount  of  compensation.  Table 
xxxiv  shows  what  recompense  can  be  expected  in  Amer- 

TABLE  XXXIV 

COMPENSATION   TO   FAMILIES   OF   PERSONS   KILLED   IN   INDUSTRIAL  ACCI- 
DENTS IN  PITTSBURQ,   IN   1908  2 


Nothing        ii 
0-$50 

i           88  cas 
21      ' 

es          29% 
6.9 

61-100 

72      ' 

23.7 

101-300 

33 

10.8 

301-500 

29 

9.6 

501-1000 

42 

13.8 

1001-2000 

11 

3.6 

2001-3000 

4 

1.3 

3001-over 

*            4 

1.3 

ica.  It  appears  that  36  per  cent  of  the  families  were 
given  just  about  enough  to  pay  for  a  decent  funeral;  80 
per  cent  received  less  than  $500 — enough  to  support  them 
a  year,  perhaps  —  what  would  follow?  True,  not  every 
household  is  visited  by  these  accidents,  but  it  is  an  uncon- 
trovertible  fact  that  a  great  amount  of  suffering,  direct 
and  indirect,  follows  the  deaths  alone.  When  those  acci- 
dents, which  may  disable  for  life,  or  which  may  only  tem- 
porarily incapacitate  the  victim  for  work,  are  added,  the 
total  misery  must  be  appalling.  Of  the  24,402  fathers  of 
families  treated  in  the  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor,  240,  or  about  1  per  cent  were  idle  an  aver- 
age of  over  nine  weeks  because  of  accidents.3  Nine  weeks 
with  no  income  from  the  mainstay  of  the  family  is  no 

1  Hunter,  Poverty,  p.  35. 

1  These  persons  killed  were  contributing  to  the  support  of  others. 
Taken  from  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  1161. 
.    *  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  290. 


HEALTH  129 

small  burden  for  a  household  which,  without  being  sub- 
jected to  the  additional  cost  of  medical  care,  finds  it 
difficult  enough  to  meet  expenses. 

Even  more  baneful,  because  more  far-reaching,  is  dis- 
ease. Thirty-seven  hundred  and  sixty -three,  or  15  per  cent 
of  the  heads  of  families  referred  to  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph were  kept  in  idleness  by  sickness  for  periods  aver- 
aging over  eight  weeks.  It  has  been  explained  how  the 
conditions  of  living  among  the  industrial  people  predis- 
pose to  disease.  The  pernicious  effects  of  these  conditions 
are  augmented  by  migration  from  one  part  of  the  country 
to  another,  by  the  ignorance  of  city  hygiene  displayed  by 
country  people  entering  urban  homes,  and  by  the  uncleanly 
habits  of  the  households,  sleeping  in  underclothes,  for 
instance.1  In  addition  to  these  forces,  there  are  the  ten- 
dencies of  certain  trades  to  cause  specific  diseases,  due  to 
dusts  in  many  cases.  So  great  is  this  liability  to  illness 
that,  in  one  canvass  of  a  hundred  New  York  tenement 
families,  Miss  Caroline  Goodyear  found  only  thirty-seven 
able-bodied  men.2  Of  the  Chicago  Italians  686,  or  17.5 
per  cent  of  the  men,  and  17.4  per  cent  of  the  women 
were  sick  during  the  course  of  the  year,  the  most  preva- 
lent ailments  being  bronchitis,  female  complaint,  rickets, 
fevers,  and  eye  troubles.3  Typical  of  the  condition  of 
the  Southern  mill  operatives  is  probably  the  snatch  of 
conversation  in  "The  Woman  Who  Toils."  "Why  thar 
ain't  never  a  haouse  but  got  somebody  sick;  I  suttenly 
never  did  see  a  place  like  this  for  dying  in  winter  time. 
I  reckon  it's  funerals  every  day."  In  that  mill  town, 
Miss  Van  Vorst  "never  saw  a  rosy  cheek  nor  a  clear 
skin."4 

Since  "it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  large  class  of  women 

1  Bacon,  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  Hi,  p.  66  ff. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvi,  p.  195. 

*  9th  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  402  S. 
1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  285.;. 


130  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

wage-earners  to  be  healthy," *  it  is  probably  the  working- 
woman  who  suffers  most.  In  normal  life  from  eleven  to 
eighteen  per  cent  of  women  experience  severe  suffering 
during  their  monthly  periods,  but  among  business  women 
the  percentage  is  from  seventy -eight  to  ninety-one.  "In 
the  working-girl  severe  suffering  increases.  All  cases  report 
increased  difficulty  of  work,  both  mental  and  physical, 
during  the  menstrual  period,  —  the  working-girl  suffering 
most."  Thus  the  laboring  women  suffer  especially  on 
account  of  their  sex,  but  the  wives  of  the  industrial  work- 
ers have  still  greater  troubles,  due  partly  to  ignorance, 
partly  to  poverty.  A  doctor  who  usually  requires  the 
assistance  of  a  nurse  ordinarily  charges  $10  for  attendance 
at  birth,  but  a  midwife  will  serve  much  more  cheaply  and 
can  make  herself  useful  about  the  house  in  addition.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  mid  wives  are  employed  for  about  48 
per  cent  of  the  parturitions  in  New  York  City.2  About 
90  per  cent  of  these  midwives  are  ignorant  women.  Miss 
Crowell  found  that,  of  the  five  hundred  whom  she  ex- 
amined, 29  admitted  willingness  to  perform  criminal  oper- 
ations, and  119  others  were  of  very  suspicious  character. 
Some  of  these  persons  were  the  acme  of  filth.3  Just  how 
much  harm  is  done  by  this  inefficient  attendance  can 
never  be  known,  but  it  must  be  great. 

It  is  probable  that  at  any  given  time  more  than  half  the 
tenement  house  dwellers  in  New  York  City  have  tuber- 
culosis.4 Probably  half  a  million  people  annually  profit 
from  the  free  dispensaries  of  that  city.5  But  the  most  im- 
pressive evidence  of  the  prevalence  of  disease  among  the 
industrial  people  is  the  testimony  of  Table  xxxv. 

1  Richardson,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxvii,  p.  625. 

*  Ralph  Folks,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  ix,  p.  429. 
1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol,  xvii,  p.  674. 

*  Brooks,  Social  Unrest,  p.  251,  quotes  Dr.  John  H,  Pryor. 

*  Warner,  American  Charities,  p,  249, 


HEALTH  131 

TABLE  XXXV 

BURDENS  AND    BUKDEN-BEAHINQ  POWER  OF   1000  PERSONS  IN  VARIOUS 
CLASSES,    POPULATION   OF   DUBLIN l 

No.  of  persons  in  a  thousand    Deaths  per    Ratio  sickness  to 
Under  15  (her  15          thousand      effective  health. 

Professional  and  independ- 
ent classes  229  771  15.20  1  :  24.5 

Middle  class  300  700  26.21  1  :  12.6 

Artisans,  petty  shop-keepers  322  678  23.00  1  :  14.0 

General  service,  includes 

workhouse  inmates  277  723  37.79  1  :   8.8 

True,  these  data  represent  the  population  of  Ireland,  yet 
the  relative  condition  of  classes  would  probably  be  similar 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  needless  to  expatiate  upon  this 
table.  Members  of  the  working  classes  must  expect  to 
be  ill  from  one  fourteenth  to  one  ninth  of  the  time.  What 
a  burden  this  is  in  the  expense  for  medical  care,  in  loss  of 
earnings,  and  in  physical  pain!  It  is  no  wonder  that  from 
20  per  cent  to  25  per  cent  of  poverty  is  attributable  to 
sickness.2 

There  is  another  form  of  disease,  widely  known,  yet 
almost  ignored  in  social  studies.  Through  ignorance  or 
perversity,  venereal  affections,  particularly  gonorrhoea, 
are  often  contracted  by  youths  of  16  to  20;  and  this  malady 
is  often  prevalent  to  such  an  extent  as  almost  to  rival 
measles.3  According  to  the  best  statistics  60  per  cent 
of  young  men  approaching  maturity  become  affected 
with  venereal,  disease  in  a  single  year.4  To  be  sure,  this 
plague  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  industrial  people,  yet 
it  deserves  mention  because  of  the  large,  though  silent, 
part  it  must  play  in  the  lives  of  the  masses.  Though  it 
seldom  brings  death  to  the  man,  gonorrhoea  causes  be- 
tween one-half  and  three-quarters  of  the  sterility  in  mar- 
riage, and  20  per  cent  to  30  per  cent  of  blindness,3  80 

1  Warner,  American  Charities,  p.  115. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  40. 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xv,  p.  712  ff.  (Ed.). 

*  Bangs,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  rv,  p.  715. 


132  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

per  cent  of  pelvic  diseases  of  women,  and  a  large  part  of 
the  chronic  ill  health  common  to  this  sex.1  This  disease 
which  men  esteem  so  trivial  falls  with  terrible  force  upon 
their  innocent  wives  and  children.  It  is  one  of  the  great 
unsolved  problems  of  the  working  people,  a  problem  which 
they  cannot  even  state. 

The  children,  too,  have  their  own  afflictions.  In  1906,  it 
was  announced  by  the  New  York  City  Health  Department 
that  two  thirds  of  all  children  examined  in  the  schools  were 
physically  defective.2  As  a  consequence  of  this  and  sev- 
eral other  startling  statements  made  at  that  time,  a  "Com- 
mittee on  the  Physical  Welfare  of  School  Children"  was 
organized  in  May  of  that  year,  and  an  investigation  made. 
This  study  revealed  that  malnutrition  was  present  in  12.9 
per  cent  of  the  defective  children,  79  per  cent  had  bad 
teeth,  47  per  cent  nose  defects,  45  per  cent  throat  defects, 
and  70  per  cent  enlarged  glands.  Not  all  of  the  defects 
could  be  attributed  to  extreme  poverty,  but  it  was 
noticeable  that  while  only  50  per  cent  of  families  with 
incomes  of  less  than  $10  per  week  employed  a  physician, 
68  per  cent  of  the  households  earning  $10  to  $19,  and  77 
per  cent  of  those  receiving  over  $20  enjoyed  the  services  of 
doctors.  The  same  increase  in  physical  care  was  apparent 
in  the  proportions  of  those  who  consulted  the  dentists,  but 
families  of  the  middle  class  were  the  most  free  in  their  use 
of  public  dispensaries.  This  is  an  interesting  detail;  the 
main  results  of  the  investigation  must  be  touched  upon.  If 
New  York  is  at  all  typical  of  the  nation,  there  are  probably 
12,000,000  physically  defective  children  in  the  schools  of 
the  United  States.  In  New  York  City  41,600  children  are 
insufficiently  fed,  and  299,600  have  bad  teeth.  Defects 
were  not  confined  to  the  poor,  though  there  were  most 
defects  among  families  with  marginal  incomes;  nor  was 

1  Buckley,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xv,  p.  720. 
*  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  x,  p.  272  ff.  (Whole  paragraph 
a  condensation  of  this  article.) 


HEALTH  133 


TABLE  XXXVI 

DEATH-BATES  IN   CERTAIN   OCCUPATIONS   (MALES)  * 

Death-Rate 

Occupation  1900  1890 

All  Occupations  15.  13.8 

Architects,  artists  11.7  12.4 

Clergymen  23.5  18.2 

Engineers  and  surveyors  8.2  5.6 

Lawyers  17.2  17.7 

Physicians  and  surgeons  19.9  21.6 

Teachers  (school)  12.2  10.4 

All  professional  15.3  15.7 

Clerical  and  official  13.5  9.8 

Commercial  travelers                                                           5.7  5.8 

Merchants  and  dealers  16.4  14.7 

Hucksters  and  peddlers  12.  14.1 

All  mercantile  and  trading  12.1  12.3 

Hotel  and  boarding-house  keepers  22.3  14.9 
Saloon-keepers,  liquor-dealers,  bar-tenders, 

and  restaurant-keepers  13.3  14.4 

All  public  entertainment  15.4  14.5 

Personal  service,  police,  and  military  12.9  15.4 

Laborers  (not  agricultural)  20.7  25.3 

Servants  15.5  12.9 

All  laboring  and  servant  20.2  22.6 

Blacksmiths  18.3  15.6 

Boot-  and  shoe-makers                                                        9.4  15.3 

Brewers,  distillers,  rectifiers  19.7  14.7 

Butchers  16.1  14.9 

Cabinet-makers  and  upholsterers  18.  15.3 

Carpenters  and  joiners  17.2  13.8 

Cigar-makers  and  tobacco- workers  18.7  16.3 

Compositors,  printers,  pressmen  12.1  11.1 

Coopers  23.8  21.5 

Glass-blowers  and  glass-workers  10.8  9.5 

Hat-  and  cap-makers  17.9  19.5 

Machinists  10.5  11.4 

Masons  (brick  and  stone)  19.9  15.6 

Mill  and  factory  operatives  (textile)                                  8.8  8.1 

Millers  (flour  and  grist)  26.6  17.3 

All  manual  and  mechanical  13.8  13. 

Farmers,  planters,  farm  laborers  17.6  11.9 

Gardeners,  florists,  nurserymen  17.2  14.8 

Miners  and  quarrymen                                                           9.6  73 

Sailors,  pilots,  fishermen  27.7  22. 

Steam  railroad  employees  10.8  9. 

Stock-raisers,  herders,  drovers  32.1  19.4 

Draymen,  hackmen,  teamsters  11.  12.1 

Boatmen  and  canalmen  18.8  80.1 

All  agricultural,  transportation,  and  outdoor         15.8  12.1 

>  Twelfth  Cennu,  Vital  Statittict,  vol.  i,  p.  cck  (extracts). 


134  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

malnutrition  the  cause  of  the  illness.  The  little  ones  are 
not  allowed  adequate  sleep,  nor  are  they  given  proper 
medical  care,  too  much  reliance  being  placed  on  patent 
medicines  and  "out-growing"  diseases.  The  dentist  is 
hardly  consulted  at  all.  Parents  can  and  do  provide  phys- 
ical care  for  their  children  if  they  realize  that  it  is  indis- 
pensable. It  cannot  be  doubted  that  there  are  many,  many 
defective  children  in  the  schools; 1  the  physical  condition 
of  those  in  the  mills  needs  no  comment  here. 

One  more  point  must  be  touched  upon,  the  light  that 
mortality  statistics  throw  upon  the  comparative  healthful- 
ness  of  occupations.  F.  L.  Hoffman  says  that  one-half  of  the 
deaths  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  sixty-five  are  pre- 
ventable.2 This  does  not  mean  that  the  rate  of  mortality 
could  be  cut  in  half  by  preventing  the  action  of  the  specific 
causes  that  bring  about  this  50  per  cent  of  preventable 
deaths ;  but  it  does  imply  that  human  life  can  be  greatly 
lengthened.  Table  xxxvi  shows  clearly  that  many  of  the 
industrial  occupations  are  wasteful  of  human  life. 

Poor  houses,  inadequate  nourishment,  and  insufficient 
clothing,  combined  with  long  hours  and  unsanitary  con- 
ditions of  labor,  combine  to  undermine  the  health  of 
industrial  people.  This  is  strikingly  evidenced  by  the 
present  tendency  to  shorten  the  trade  life.  Accidents  are 
very  much  too  numerous,  and  cause  a  "  dead  loss"  to  society. 
Moreover  these  mishaps  every  year  throw  into  distress  or 
actual  pauperism  many  families.  Disease,  too,  is  at  work, 
especially  among  the  tenement  house  population  and  the 
overworked  factory  people,  causing  physical  and  eco- 
nomic suffering.  A  great  problem  presents  itself  in  the 
wide  prevalence  of  venereal  afflictions  and  in  the  suffering 
brought  upon  women  as  a  consequence  of  their  toil  and  of 
improper  assistance  in  child-birth.  Even  the  children  are 

1  See  for  partial  confirmation,  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child 
Study,  chapter  xvii. 

*  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xvi,  p.  95. 


HEALTH  135 

widely  subject  to  physical  defects.  The  industrial  people 
certainly  do  not  have  enough  money  to  spend  for  the 
preservation  of  health,  and  they  are  exposed  to  great 
dangers  both  from  accidents  and  disease  —  dangers  that 
ought  not  to  be  countenanced  a  moment.  Nothing  has 
been  said  of  the  relations  of  impure  milk  to  the  infantile 
death-rate  nor  of  the  oppressive  burden  of  frequent  fun- 
erals; but  enough  facts  have  been  presented  to  prove  that 
the  laborer  enjoys  far  less  bodily  health  than  he  can  reason- 
ably demand  for  physical  and  economic  efficiency,  not  to 
mention  his  own  intrinsic  worth  as  an  end  in  himself. 


CHAPTER  X 

INTELLECTUAL  AND   SOCIAL  LIFE 

So  far  this  study  has  been  confined  almost  exclusively  to 
the  material  life  of  the  working  people,  but  there  exists 
another  side.  Though  the  psychology  of  the  laborers  is 
every  bit  as  important  as  their  food  and  clothing,  it  is  too 
large  a  theme  to  be  adequately  discussed  as  a  mere  part 
of  the  wider  subject  of  the  Standard  of  Living.  In  this 
chapter,  therefore,  the  effort  is  limited  to  a  few  of  the 
most  important  phases  of  thought  and  resulting  action. 
In  so  large  a  country,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  the  working 
classes  to  have  almost  every  conceivable  variety  of  idea 
and  belief:  only  those  opinions  which  are  typical  of  large 
numbers  of  people  are  here  mentioned. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  part  of  man's  mental  life 
is  his  attitude  toward  matters  of  sex.  The  taboo  placed 
upon  this  subject  by  polite  society,  together  with  the 
pleasure  derived  by  the  average  man  from  gross  thoughts, 
lend  it  a  certain  charm  in  the  mind.  "  Between  youth  and 
maid  a  'Platonic  friendship'  is  impossible,  not  because  it 
goes  against  their  nature,  but  because  it  clashes  with  the 
dominant  tradition  that  any  liking  between  them  must 
be  sentimental."1  So  from  earliest  childhood  the  matter  of 
sex  is  given  an  artificial  position  in  the  mind.  This  devel- 
ops into  a  love  of  the  obscene  which  is  almost  universal, 
but  which  seems  to  be  most  tolerated  or  least  concealed 
in  the  breasts  of  the  laboring  class.  "On  the  subject  of 
morality,"  says  the  anonymous  author  of  "  The  Long  Day," 
"I  am  constrained  to  express  myself  with  comparative  dif- 
fidence lest  I  be  misinterpreted  and  charged  with  vilifying 
1  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  p.  269. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  137 

the  class  to  which  I  once  belonged.  .  .  .  The  average 
working  girl  is  even  more  poorly  equipped  for  right  living 
and  right  thinking  than  she  is  for  intelligent  industrial 
effort.  One  of  the  worst  features  of  my  experience  was 
being  obliged  to  hear  the  obscene  stories  which  were 
exchanged  at  the  work-table  quite  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and,  if  not  a  reflection  of  vicious  minds,  this  is  at  least 
indicative  of  loose  living  and  inherent  vulgarity.  The 
lewd  joke,  the  abominable  tale,  is  the  rule,  I  assert  posi- 
tively, and  not  the  exception  among  the  lower  class  of 
working  girls." 1  If  the  reader's  experience  is  not  sufficiently 
wide  to  enable  him  to  believe  that  this  statement  is  essen- 
tially true,  he  may  be  interested  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Warner  —  "No  boy  among  boys,  or  man  among  men,  can 
fail  to  have  evidence  thrust  upon  him  showing  that  a  very 
great  amount  of  vitality  is  burnt  out  by  the  fires  of  lust. 
Among  the  rougher  class  of  day  laborers  upon  railroads, 
in  quarries,  and  even  upon  the  farms,  the  whole  under- 
current of  thought,  so  far  as  conversation  gives  it  evidence, 
is  thoroughly  base  and  degrading.  In  several  cases  that 
the  author  investigated  carefully,  inefficiency  certainly 
resulted  from  the  constant  preoccupation  of  the  mind  with 
sensual  imagining.  .  .  .  Personal  acquaintance  with  railroad 
day  laborers,  and  others  of  a  similar  class,  convinces  the 
writer  that  they  are  very  commonly  kept  from  rising  in 
the  industrial  scale  by  their  sensuality,  and  that  it  is  this 
and  the  resulting  degeneration  that  finally  convert  many 
of  them  into  lazy  vagabonds."2  Not  only  does  vile  mental 
imagery  characterize  a  large  proportion  of  the  laborers, 
but  the  thoughts  often  lead  to  deeds.  Possibly  the  "  mor- 
als of  the  working  class  are  as  high  as  those  of  the  middle 
class" 3;  yet,  both  from  the  large  number  of  prostitutes  who 
formerly  inhabited  the  tenements  of  New  York,  and  from 
the  prevalence  of  venereal  disease  spoken  of  in  the  last 

1  The  Long  Day,  p.  281.  2  Warner,  American  Charities,  p.  67. 

1  Stephens,  Higher  Life  for  the  Working  People,  p.  96. 


138  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

chapter,  it  is  certain  that  their  conduct  is  not  as  lofty  as 
it  should  be.1 

Now,  how  does  this  baseness  of  thought  influence  home 
life?  "Hasty  marriage  is  usually  the  working  girl's  last 
protest  against  a  wage-earning  system  that  pushes  her  to 
the  wall."2  Far  more  men  than  most  good  souls  would 
willingly  admit,  in  practice,  if  not  in  theory,  hold  to  the 
idea  that  the  wife  is  purchased  for  the  pleasure  of  her  lord. 
"Abstinence  is  out  of  the  question.  The  sentiments  of 
men  who  purchased  their  wives  still  exist  among  many  of 
the  lower  stratum  of  society.  The  woman  is  something  for 
their  use,  for  which  they  paid  the  price."3  The  result  is 
that  there  are  often  too  many  births;  children  follow  each 
other  too  quickly  for  the  mother's  health,  and  for  their 
own  welfare;  in  New  York  City,  women  have  been  found 
prolonging  lactation  in  the  vain  belief  that  it  prevents 
conception.  Indeed,  so  hard  do  they  find  married  life  that 
many  a  mother  solemnly  warns  her  daughter  not  to  marry.4 
In  a  neighborhood  by  no  means  the  worst  in  Brooklyn, 
one  woman  is  universally  envied  because  her  husband  does 
not  beat  her.  Sometimes  very  little  affection  is  wasted 
between  man  and  wife.  He  earns  the  living,  and  she  keeps 
the  house.  After  supper,  he  goes  out  to  join  the  men,  she 
stays  in  and  "minds"  the  children.  Husband  and  wife 
refer  to  each  other  as  "her"  and  "him."  "Furthermore, 
I  have  found  among  working  people  almost  no  pretence  of 
feeling  where  none  exists.  Where  the  death  of  a  husband 
has  meant  merely  a  loss  of  income,  with  the  attending 
problems  of  struggle  and  adjustment,  there  is  no  effort 
to  make  it  appear  otherwise."5  Children  are  often  neg- 
lected if  the  mother  must  work  hard,  at  other  times  they 
are  inadequately  nourished.  The  whole  situation  can  be 

1  See  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  271  f. 

2  MacLean,  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  vol.  ix,  p.  306. 
8  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  p.  72  ff.  and  85. 

4  Herzfeld,  Family  Monographs,  p.  19  and  p.  51. 

6  Eastman,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  566. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  139 

summed  up  by  saying,  for  very  many  families,  "there  is 
very  little  spiritual  comradeship."1 

Perhaps  it  will  be  well  to  recite  the  routine  of  a  coal- 
miner's  wife  as  recorded  by  Dr.  Roberts.  She  must  have 
his  breakfast  ready  by  five  or  five-thirty;  housework 
occupies  her  until  it  is  time  to  wash  and  dress  the  children 
preparatory  to  giving  them  breakfast  and  sending  them  to 
school.  Then  the  baby  must  be  bathed  and  nursed,  and 
the  children's  dinner  cooked.  The  afternoon  is  spent  in 
preparing  a  hearty  supper  for  the  miner,  which  must  be 
all  ready  when  he  appears,  because  then  the  good  wife  has 
to  wash  his  back  for  him.  After  supper  comes  dish-wash- 
ing, and  then  the  children  are  put  to  bed.  The  evening 
has  to  be  spent  mending.  Add  to  this  the  marketing, 
washing,  baking,  and  other  incidentals,  and  the  life  of 
the  miner's  wife  is  by  no  means  attractive.2  It  is  not  alone 
the  miners  who  impose  this  wearisome  existence  on  their 
families.  Among  the  Southern  cotton  people  domestic 
practices  are  just  as  unbearable,  and  routines  of  equal 
hardship  may  be  everywhere  observed.  It  is  not  intended 
to  place  the  blame  upon  the  men,  the  source  of  the  misery 
lies  in  the  condition  of  industry  that  requires  excessive 
labor,  and  in  the  state  of  society  that  tolerates  such  low 
ideals  of  womanhood  and  home  life. 

That  is  one  side  of  the  question.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  just  as  true  that  "The  tenement  houses  have  many 
instances  of  devoted  family  affection.  It  is  impressive  and 
reassuring  to  find  that  under  much  of  the  home  life  of  the 
district  there  is  an  impregnable  rock  of  fundamental 
morality.  The  virtue  of  generosity  and  certain  aspects 
of  moral  courage  exist  in  a  high  degree."3  There  can  be 
found,  indeed,  among  the  American  industrial  workers 
many,  many  instances  of  the  most  happy  and  unselfish 

1  Herzfeld,  Family  Budgets,  p.  51. 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chapter  v,  part  2. 

1  The  City  Wilderness,  p.  289. 


140  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

lives.  In  these  households,  in  almost  all  families  in  fact, 
if  woman  is  treated  as  a  chattel,  she  is  yet,  in  a  sense,  the 
master.  "The  woman  is,  in  almost  every  sense,  of  greater 
importance  than  the  married  man  of  the  artisan  class,  in 
any  scheme  for  storing  up  economic  energy.  The  artisan 
of  good  habits  who  is  ambitious  for  economic  improve- 
ment often  makes  his  wife  his  banker,  and  gives  her  con- 
trol of  the  domestic  budget.  For  the  most  part,  the  man 
only  exercises  a  veto  power."1  It  seems  to  be  almost 
universal  practice  for  the  wife  to  hold  the  family  purse. 
In  many  cases,  the  entire  earnings  are  intrusted  to  her, 
and  she  even  doles  out  to  her  husband  carfare  and  beer 
money.2  So,  although  a  brutal  lord-of-property  attitude 
is  characteristic  of  many  husbands,  there  are  among  the 
workers,  all  varieties  of  family  life. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  boast  that  culture  and  refine- 
ment breed  a  philanthropic  spirit,  but  it  is  probable  that 
there  is  more  genuine  kindheartedness  among  the  laboring 
classes  than  among  the  wealthy.  "There  is  more  honor 
than  courtesy  in  the 'code  of  etiquette.  .  .  .  Each  man 
for  himself  in  work,  but  in  trouble  all  for  the  one  who 
is  suffering.  No  bruise  or  cut  or  burn  is  too  familiar  to 
pass  uncared  for."3  "It  takes  a  long  time  to  exhaust  the 
reservoir  of  kindness  and  true  charity  which  exists  among 
the  poor,  for,  as  Maurice  Hewlett  says : 

'Only  the  poor  love  the  poor, 
And  only  they  who  have  little  to  eat 
Give  to  them  that  have  less.'"4 

The  attitude  of  some  of  the  laborers  may  be  typified  in  the 
words  of  the  old  hag  who  aided  the  author  of  the  "Long 
Day,"  when  her  awkwardness  had  put  her  far  behind  in 
her  work:  "That's  all  right.  I'm  glad  to  help  yer!  Ajid 

1  Hamilton,  Savings  and  Savings  Institutions,  p.  177. 

1  Herzfeld,  Family  Monographs,  p.  50. 

1  Van  Vorst,  The  Woman  Who  Toils,  p.  43. 

4  Quoted  by  Hunter,  Poverty,  p.  71. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  141 

sure,  if  we  don't  help  each  other  who's  going  to  help  us 
poor  devils,  I'd  like  to  know?"1  And  finally  it  is  relevant 
to  quote  from  the  "Letters  of  a  Workingman " :  "There's 
certainly  nothing  stingy  about  the  people  in  the  tene- 
ments. .  .  .  They  '11  respond  more  readily  than  any  other 
class  of  people,  even  though  it  costs  them  lots  more  to  do 
it."2  The  testimony  to  the  mutual  helpfulness  of  the  in- 
dustrial people  is  well-nigh  universal.  This  is  not  so  re- 
markable as  it,  at  first  blush,  seems,  for  it  is  only  suffering 
that  makes  possible  sympathy,  and  sympathy  it  is  that 
causes  kindly  actions. 

In  the  discussion  of  food,  it  was  noted  that  meals  were 
often  bolted  during  the  noon  hour  in  order  that  the  hands 
might  have  time  for  conversation.  The  working-girls  are 
often  voluble  talkers,  but  their  speech  dwells  mostly  upon 
young  men  and  sociables  and  parties.  Those  who  read 
find  material  in  their  books;  extravagant  romances  most 
of  them  are,  with  pretty  or  striking  names;  hardly  ever 
is  a  story  of  the  slightest  value.  Thus  both  talk  and  read- 
ing is  unelevating  —  but  a  blessed  diversion3 ;  newspapers 
are  eagerly  devoured  by  most  of  the  men. 

Another  interesting  light  upon  the  character  of  the  in- 
dustrial class  is  that  shed  by  their  diversions.  For  recreation 
and  amusement  70.39  per  cent  of  the  2567  families  intens- 
ively studied  by  the  Department  of  Labor  made  expendi- 
tures averaging  $17.44.4  This  is  by  no  means  an  extrava- 
gant outlay  for  pleasure;  it  could  well  be  larger  without 
detriment  to  the  people,  but  evil  lies  in  the  fact  that  much 
is  unwisely  spent.  The  sights  and  sounds  of  the  street  are 
undoubtedly  interesting  to  all,  but  can  hardly  be  "palmed 
off"  upon  the  intelligent  as  recreation.  "Our  inquiry  into 
the  possible  indoor  amusements  for  the  working  people 
during  the  winter  months  brings  us  back,  with  an  added 

1  The  Long  Day,  p.  210.  *  Letters  from  a  Workingman,  p.  161.j, 

1  See  The  Long  Day,  chapters  v  and  vi  for  evidence. 

4  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  507  and  509. 


142  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

sense  of  disappointment,  to  actual  conditions.  The  saloon, 
the  dance  hall,  and  the  cheap  theatre  are  to-day  their 
chief  centres  of  amusement.  The  first  is  pernicious;  the 
other  two,  as  they  exist,  are  at  least  questionable  in  their 
influence.  Of  reading-rooms  there  are  only  a  few;  of  gym- 
nasiums, the  number  is  still  less.  What  wonder  if,  during 
the  months  when  the  streets  and  parks  are  not  habitable 
saloons  are  crowded  with  hosts  of  men  and  boys,  for  where 
else  shall  they  go  for  amusement."  l  In  New  York  City 
dancing  forms  nine  tenths  of  the  formal  diversion  of  the 
working-girls.2  The  halls,  which  are  often  conducted  as 
adjuncts  to  saloons,  usually  offer  privileges  of  the  floor 
for  from  five  to  fifty  cents.  "A  quarter  of  a  million  persons 
a  week  attend  the  dance  halls,  mostly  young  men  and 
women  between  sixteen  and  thirty  years  of  age."3  The 
Slavs  in  the  Pennsylvania  coal-fields  habitually  drink 
heavily  before  their  prolonged  dances.  "The  dancing 
halls,  which  are  weekly  patronized  by  the  working  classes 
of  these  mining  towns,  are  not  fit  places  for  our  young,  for 
their  minds  are  not  humanized  and  their  bodies  are  not 
refined  in  them.  False  standards  of  social  life  are  developed 
there.  Dangerous  and  daring  men  have  perfect  freedom 
and  are  under  no  restraint  in  cementing  friendship  with 
gullible  young  girls,  which  often  means  their  ruin.  There 
is  no  refining  influence  exerted  in  the  hall  and  the  vices 
resulting  from  these  dancing  halls  have  frequently  been 
brought  home  with  a  rude  shock  to  families  in  these  coal- 
fields."4 "Young  respectable  women  will  so  far  forget 
themselves  in  a  dancing  hall  as  freely  to  associate  and  dance 
with  men  whom  they  would  be  ashamed  to  recognize  on 
the  street."5  In  "select  company,"  dancing  may  be  harm- 
less, but,  appealing  as  it  does  to  the  lower  nature,  practiced 

1  Economics  of  the  Liquor  Problem,  p.  185. 

2  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  1018. 
1  Ibid.,  vol.  xxi,  p.  1038. 

4  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  p.  201. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  200. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  143 

as  it  is  in  proximity  to  saloons  and  under  conditions  that 
are  often  actually  immoral,  or  at  least  demoralizing,  this 
amusement  is  certainly  pernicious  in  its  effect  upon  the 
industrial  people. 

Next  to  dancing  in  importance  as  an  amusement,  is 
the  theatre.  "A  careful  estimate  makes  it  probable  that 
at  least  three  hundred  thousand  persons  attend  theatres 
in  New  York  on  week  days,  and  five  hundred  thousand  on 
Sundays."  1  There  are  said  to  be  five  hundred  moving 
picture  shows  and  six  hundred  theatres  in  the  tenement 
districts  of  New  York  City.  In  Pennsylvania,  some  of  the 
native  miners  spend  $10  a  month  on  the  theatre  alone; 
in  one  community  containing  some  13,000  young  men, 
$20,000  to  $25,000  is  annually  sunk  in  this  single  form  of 
amusement.2  Boston  has  the  same  tale  of  lurid  tragedy 
and  coarse  comedy,  vaudeville  and  "Nickelodeons."3  The 
best  that  can  be  said  for  these  institutions  is  that  they  are 
often  harmless,  but  the  difficulty  that  the  officials  of  New 
York  City  constantly  experience  in  suppressing  the  fea- 
tures of  entertainment  which  are  even  legally  immoral, 
bears  powerful  testimony  to  the  fact  that  many  managers 
go  just  as  close,  as  they  think  safe,  to  the  obscene. 

Other  important  sources  of  amusement  there  certainly 
are,  political  and  labor  excursions,  public  parks  and  trolley 
resorts,  museums,  menageries,  and  aquariums,  baseball, 
racing,  and  prize-fighting.  Pleasure  clubs  are  frequently 
organized.  In  New  York  City  your  "gentleman  friend" 
invites  you  to  a  ball  or  a  "racket,"  the  racket  being  a  ball 
where  refreshments  are  served  without  extra  charge.  The 
man  dances  almost  exclusively  with  the  girl  whom  he 
escorts,  save  that  he  may  have  a  few  numbers  with  her 
"lady  friend."  4  The  trades  unions,  to  which  about  one 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  1038. 

a  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  chapter  iv,  p.  108. 

»  The  City  Wilderness,  p.  176  S. 

*  Herzfeld,  Family  Monographs,  p.  18. 


144  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

ninth  of  the  industrial  workers  belong,  often  organize 
excursions,  and,  in  their  meetings,  give  the  men  perhaps 
the  highest  intellectual  life  that  they  can  obtain.  Of  the 
2567  families  canvassed  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor  in  1901, 
944,  or  36.77  per  cent,  expended  an  average  of  $10.52  for 
affiliation  with  these  societies,  and  1123,  or  43.75  per  cent, 
expended  an  average  of  $11.84  for  other  organizations.1 
The  large  proportionate  membership  of  the  unions  fur- 
nishes strong  presumptive  evidence  that  these  families 
were  above  the  average  in  means  and  intelligence.  Thus, 
though  organizations  are  not  very  costly,  they  play  a 
rather  prominent  part  in  the  life  of  many  of  the  labor- 
ing classes.  These  unions  are  of  great  benefit  to  their 
members,  teaching  them  the  value  of  a  brotherly,  self- 
sacrificing  attitude,  and  affording  them  the  severe  disci- 
pline of  debate.2 

Still  another  factor  is  very  important  in  the  psychical 
or  social  life  of  the  working  people  —  the  saloon.  Accord- 
ing to  the  data  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  50.72  per  cent 
of  the  families  canvassed  had  expenditure  for  intoxicants 
averaging  $24.53. 3  It  is  highly  probable  that  this  outlay 
for  drink  is  set  too  low  4  for  many  house-wives  doubtless 
tried  to  conceal  the  real  extent  of  the  use  of  intoxicants. 
In  Pittsburg  the  foreign  born  are  often  heavy  drinkers. 
Some  of  them  will  spend  more  for  liquor  than  for  food, 
and  individuals  can  imbibe  from  two  to  three  gallons  on 
a  festal  occasion.6  The  per  capita  consumption  of  distilled 
spirits,  wines,  and  malt  liquors  in  the  United  States  in 
1908  was  23.01  gallons.6  That  is  enough  to  make  at  least 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  500,  504  and 
508. 

1  John  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  chap,  xviii. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  500,  504  and 
508. 

4  See  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  221. 

1  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xxi,  p.  543. 

•  17.  S.  Statistical  Abstract,  1908.  p.  575. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE 


145 


a  gallon  and  a  half  each  week  for  every  male  of  voting 
age.  It  costs,  on  the  average,  $7118.30  per  year  to  buy 
the  liquor  sold  in  a  saloon.1  Now,  when  there  are  only  from 
200  to  800  people  to  support  each  saloon,  the  mean  expen- 
diture must  be  from  $8.50  to  $35  per  capita,  or  about  $40 
to  $150  per  family.  The  magnitude  of  this  burden  may 
be  astounding,  but  it  must  be  remembered,  in  considering 
the  averages,  that  at  least  thirty  million  Americans  are 
living  in  "dry  localities,"  either  by  state  prohibition,  or 
some  substantial  form  of  local  option.  Table  xxxvn 
shows  the  number  of  inhabitants  to  each  saloon  in  several 
of  the  leading  cities  of  the  United  States,  in  1900. 

TABLE  XXXVH 

POPULATION,  AND  POPULATION  PER  LICENSED  BETAIL  LIQUOR  SALOON  IN 
SEVERAL   AMERICAN   CITIES   IN    1900 2 


Population  per 
City               Population   laloon    (retail) 

New  York       3437,202          316 
Chicago           1698,575          265 
Philadelphia    1293,697          748 
St.  Louis            575,238          268 
Boston                560,892           568 
Baltimore          508,957          244 
Cleveland           381,768           204 
Buffalo               352,387           206 
San  Francisco   342,782          108 
Cincinnati         325,902          190 

Population 
City               Population    per  saloon 

Pittsburg         321,616       610 
New  Orleans    287,104       185 
Detroit             285,704       287 
Milwaukee       285,315       164 
Washington     278,718       560 
Newark            246,070       187 
Jersey  C.          206,433       210 
Louisville         204,731       239 
Minneapolis     202,718       617 

Even  the  lowest  ratio  there  included,  one  drinking  place 
to  748  people,  is  high  enough  to  emphasize  by  itself  alone 
the  significance  of  alcoholic  liquor  in  every-day  life,  but 
the  high  ratio  (San  Francisco)  means  that  there  are  no 
more  than  thirty  men  to  patronize  each  saloon. 

"Had  the  saloon  no  other  reason  for  being  retained  than 
mere  pleasurable  waste,  and  were  its  value  merely  a 
pathological  one,  it  would  long  since  have  suffered  the 

1  Anti-Saloon  League  Year  Book,  1909,  p.  78. 

*  Compiled  from  Statistics  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor, 
No.  36,  pp.  833  and  839. 


146  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

ordinary  fate  of  the  unfit."1  But  there  must  be  something 
that  satisfies  a  really  vital  want  in  this  institution,  or  it 
could  never  be  true  that  "the  saloon  must  look  to  the  older 
men  in  the  community  for  support,  to  men  over  thirty 
years  of  age."2  In  the  first  place,  "stimulus  is  necessary 
to  any  form  of  psychic  life.  The  quality  of  a  psychic  life 
depends  in  some  measure  at  least  upon  the  quality  of  the 
stimulus  presented.  The  life  of  the  ordinary  workingman 
is  made  up  of  habits;  and  yet,  simply  because  of  this  fact, 
psychical  energy,  which  is  unused  in  the  very  habitual, 
seeks  the  more  persistently  for  its  own  appropriate  form 
of  expression,  and  because  the  proper  stimulus  to  psychic 
expression  is  either  foreign  to  the  conditions  or  is  not 
recognized  because  of  defective  education,  recourse  is  had 
to  the  false  stimulus  of  alcoholics." 3  In  other  words,  the 
industrial  worker  has  neither  the  means  nor  the  education 
to  love  books;  his  home  is  frequently  unattractive;  fagged 
out  with  a  long  day's  work,  he  is  unable,  often,  to  converse 
entertainingly;  yet  he  craves  social  pleasures.  Alcohol 
furnishes  the  stimulus,  the  saloon  affords  the  field  of 
activity.  More  attractive  than  the  home  of  its  patron 
may  be  even  the  dingiest  dram-shop.  There  a  man  finds 
congenial  companions  among  whom  he  can  cast  off  his 
reserve  and  be  himself,  there  he  is  always  a  welcome  guest 
whatever  the  hour,  there  he  hears  the  latest  news  and 
gossip,  listens  to  discussions  of  the  questions  of  the  day, 
gambles  a  little  perhaps,  or  awaits  the  sporting  returns.  A 
superior  person  is  the  proprietor,  the  man  who  is  willing 
to  act  as  a  post  office,  an  employment  bureau,  a  political 
leader,  a  friend  to  every  one,  and  a  family  councilor.  Often 
the  saloon  keeper  will  accommodate  his  patrons  with  loans 
in  times  of  sore  need,  and  he  habitually  "trusts"  many  of 
them  for  drink  for  a  week  or  so  until  pay  day.  The  neigh- 
borhood saloon  is  almost  the  entire  social  life  of  the  com- 

1  Economic  Aspects  of  the  Liquor  Problem,  p.  214. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  218-219.  »  Ibid.,  p.  217. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  147 

munity.  Still  another  hold  has  this  institution.  The  work- 
man abhors  the  cheap  restaurants  with  then*  dirty  linen 
and  air  of  poverty.  With  two  beers  he  can  obtain  an  ex- 
cellent, well-cooked  and  nutritious  dinner  before  the  bar 
or  at  a  polished  table.  It  is  altogether  natural  that  the 
saloon  should  have  a  wide  patronage  among  the  industrial 
workers.1 

But  the  fact  that  the  saloon  does  meet  certain  essential 
psychic  and  physical  wants  of  the  workingmen  does  not 
justify  its  existence.  Whether  or  not  the  causal-effect 
relation  can  be  drawn,  the  number  of  suicides  in  different 
countries  is  closely  proportional  to  the  per  capita  consump- 
tion of  liquors.2  Inebriety,  moreover,  is  the  direct  prime 
cause  of  10  per  cent  of  pauperism,3  probably  being  at  the 
root  of  a  great  deal  larger  proportion  of  dependence.  It 
has  been  proven  beyond  peradventure  by  the  German 
experimenters  that  alcohol,  even  in  the  smallest  drinkable 
quantities,  interferes  with  brain  action;  the  effects  of  a 
single  bottle  of  wine  sometimes  last  three  days.  Even  in 
manual  labor,  such  as  typesetting,  efficiency  is  greatly 
decreased  by  indulgence  in  intoxicants.  Finally  alcohol 
seriously  impairs  the  functioning  of  the  vital  organs. 
There  can  be  no  denying  that  intoxicating  beverages,  even 
in  moderate  quantities,  do  weaken  the  body  and  degrade 
the  mind.4  Alcohol  is  both  the  cause  and  effect  of  bad 
conditions  of  living;  its  pernicious  work  far  over-balances 
for  evil  the  good  features  of  the  saloon. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  touch  upon  the  great  field  of 
education  —  to  show  how  undemocratic  the  American 
school  system  really  is,  in  that  so  few  children  are  given 
manual  training,  the  instruction  that  would  help  them  win 
in  the  industrial  battle;  but  they  are  offered  subjects  like 

1  This  whole  paragraph  is  largely  based  on  material  in  the  Work  of  the 
Committee  of  Fifty  —  Saloon  Substitutes. 

*  Prinzing,  American  Statistical  Association,  vol.  v,  p.  155. 

*  Warner,  American  Charities,  p.  38. 

«  Williams,  McClure's  Magazine,  October,  1908,  p.  704. 


148  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

Greek  and  Latin,  of  small  practical  value.  No  wonder 
healthy  young  boys  who  must  toil  with  their  hands  turn 
away  from  the  high  and  even  the  grammar  schools.  "The 
general  tendency  of  American  cities  is  to  carry  all  their 
children  through  the  fifth  grade,  to  take  one  half  of  them 
to  the  eighth  grade,  and  one  in  ten  through  the  high 
school."1  "Whatever  the  stage  of  their  advancement  a 
large  part  of  the  pupils  of  our  schools  leave  at  the  age  of 
14."2  At  this  age  very  few  of  them  have  completed  the 
grammar  grades.  But  until  they  mend  their  own  ways,  the 
poor  have  no  right  to  complain  of  any  lack  of  democracy 
in  this  country.  "  I  have  known  Boston  shop-girls  at  their 
dances  to  put  up  a  placard  'No  servants  admitted.'"3 
The  light  negroes  do  not  think  the  dark  negroes  their 
social  equals.  So  through  every  round  of  society  presses 
this  desire  for  difference,  for  superiority  over  some  one  — 
the  undemocratic  spirit. 

The  artistic  sense  of  the  industrial  people  varies  greatly, 
some  liking  the  cheap  trash  that  they  can  buy  of  street 
peddlers,  and  others  evidencing  genuine  appreciation  of 
real  masterpieces.  As  the  working  classes  are  composed 
of  such  a  heterogeneous  mixture  of  races,  all  sorts  of 
superstitions  abound  among  them.  The  Italians  often 
wear  fetishes  to  drive  away  the  demon  which  could  be 
identified  as  "Malnutrition."4  There  is  often  the  densest 
ignorance  of  the  nature  of  contagion  in  disease,  and  doc- 
tors are  sometimes  known  as  "charmers."  Etiquette  is 
frequently  peculiar,  but  usually  good-hearted.  The  hard 
struggle  for  a  livelihood  forces  many  of  these  people  to 
think  seriously,  and  they  have  many  keen  and  profound 
opinions. 

"It  is  dangerous  to  report  class  opinions.  'What  Labor 
thinks*  has  been  the  lying  text  of  many  a  demagogue. 
There  is  no  uniformity  of  conviction  upon  a  single  indus- 

1  Ayres,  Laggards  in  our  Schools,  p.  3.          *  Ibid.,  p.  18. 

1  Brooks,  Social  Unreal,  p.  235.  «  Hunter,  Poverty,  p.  33. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  149 

trial  topic  among  some  twenty  millions  who  work  for 
wages  in  the  United  States."  l  One  thing,  however,  may 
be  said  with  confidence.  There  is  a  general  feeling  that 
something  is  fundamentally  wrong  with  the  society  that 
allows  to  some  men  idleness  and  ease,  and  exacts  from 
other  men  toil  and  hardship.  At  the  time  of  their  great 
Revolution,  the  French  people  were  the  most  happily 
situated  of  all  the  peasantries  of  Europe.  The  American 
laborer  is  probably  more  fortunate  than  any  other  work- 
man on  earth  with  the  possible  exception  of  his  brother  in 
Australia,  yet  "contentment  and  docile  behavior  are  not 
a  consequence  of  enlarged  income  and  increased  well- 
being.  The  new  acquisitions,  as  we  all  observe,  rarely 
quiet  discontent;  often,  indeed,  augment  it."2  To  illus- 
trate this  feeling  of  class  conflict  it  is  sufficient  to  quote 
from  the  constitution  of  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World,  under  which  sixty  thousand  Americans  are  organ- 
ized. "The  working  class  and  the  employing  class  have 
nothing  in  common,  .  .  .  between  these  two  classes  a  strug- 
gle must  go  on  until  all  the  toilers  come  together  on  the 
political  as  well  as  the  industrial  field,  and  take  and  hold 
that  which  they  produce  as  their  labor." 3  "The  real  peril 
which  we  now  face  is  the  threat  of  class  conflict.  If  capital- 
ism insists  upon  the  policy  of  outraging  the  saving  aspira- 
tions of  the  American  workman  to  raise  his  standard  of 
comfort  and  leisure,  every  element  of  class  conflict  will 
strengthen  among  us."4  This  class  jealousy  is  a  real 
danger  to  American  society  as  at  present  constituted,  yet, 
if  the  warning  is  heeded,  this  feeling  of  unrest  may  lead 
to  the  grandest  national  development  that  has  ever  been 
achieved.  "  On  the  whole  this  discontent  is  to  be  welcomed 
as  a  sign  of  healthy  growth.  In  raising  the  level  of  a  race, 
or  a  class,  it  has  always  been  difficult  to  instill  a  psycho- 

1  Brooks,  Social  Unrest,  p.  125.  *  Ibid.,  p.  111. 

1  Quoted  from  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxx,  p.  452. 
4  Brooks,  Social  Unrest,  p.  344. 


150  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

logical  desire  for  goods  for  the  obtaining  of  which  effort 
and  self-control  must  be  applied.  For  this  discontent, 
therefore,  the  friends  of  progress  must  be  grateful." l 
This  unrest  has  occasioned  a  change  in  union  policy; 
workers  no  longer  desire  to  rise  from  their  class,  but  with 
it.2  So,  although  there  is  a  widespread  attitude  of  sus- 
picion and  a  conviction  of  injustice  in  the  present  organiza- 
tion of  society,  this  is  exactly  the  state  of  affairs  to  facili- 
tate progress. 

One  other  side  of  life  remains  to  be  touched,  the  moral. 
It  is  the  function  of  the  church  to  provide  men  with  a 
stimulus  and  with  the  means  of  obtaining  the  highest 
moral  development.  Does  the  church  meet  the  require- 
ments? One  method  of  measuring  the  value  of  an  organi- 
zation to  an  individual  is  by  the  amount  he  is  willing  to 
sacrifice  for  it.  Now  of  the  2567  families  mentioned  in 
the  Bureau  of  Labor  study,  80.33  per  cent  had  expenditures 
for  religion,  but  this  outlay  averaged  only  $9.49, 3  surely 
a  small  per  cent  of  income.  "  Mr.  Moody  said  a  few  years 
ago,  'The  gulf  between  the  church  and  the  masses  is 
growing  deeper,  wider,  and  darker  every  hour.'  The 
reality  of  such  a  gulf  is  not  a  matter  of  opinion.  Careful 
investigations  have  been  made  in  city  and  country  which 
give  us  definite  knowledge."4  "According  to  the  careful 
estimate  of  a  clergyman  of  one  of  the  largest  New  England 
factory  cities,  not  one  man  in  fifteen  of  the  Protestant 
operatives  in  that  city  ever  attends  church."6  The  total 
membership  of  all  churches  in  the  United  States  in  1908 
was  34,282,543,  but  this  number  includes  a  very  large 
proportion  of  those  whose  connection  with  religious  organ- 
ization is  merely  nominal.6  The  blame  for  this  gulf  lies 

1  Laughlin,  Industrial  America,  pp.  70-71. 

1  See  Article  on  "The  New  Unionism,"  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  296  ff. 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  505  and  509. 

4  Strong,  The  New  Era,  p.  204. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  208. 

•  Christian  Advocate,  January  16,  19Q9. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE          151 

largely  with  the  church.  It  has  been  indifferent  to  the 
needs  of  the  poor,  failing  to  apply  its  own  doctrine  to 
temporal  affairs  and  catering  largely  to  the  monied  classes. 
It  hires  ministers  to  make  pastoral  calls  and  forgets  to  do 
missionary  work  in  its  own  community;  or,  when  it  does 
start  a  mission  branch,  the  affairs  of  that  chapel  are  not 
conducted  upon  democratic  principles;  the  poor  think  they 
are  being  "patronized."1  If  they  have  a  church,  it  would 
be  well  for  them  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  managing 
it  themselves.  Again,  the  church  has,  in  many  cases,  con- 
fined itself  to  "charity,"  giving  alms  instead  of  lifting 
individuals.  Another  mistake  that  this  institution  has 
made  is  going  too  far  toward  secularization;  religion  as 
such  is  better  than  religion  sugar-coated  with  all  manner 
of  disguising  institutionalism.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
workingmen  themselves  are  largely  at  fault,  they  are  too 
sensitive;  they  feel  that  they  are  "not  wanted"  in  many 
a  good  church  where  they  are  really  heartily  welcomed. 
Another  factor  in  this  alienation  is  the  lack  of  means  of  the 
industrial  people.  They  cannot  afford  proper  clothing  for 
attendance  at  divine  service;  moreover,  men  working  long 
hours  are  too  tired  Sundays  for  church  attendance. 

Though  "it  is  true  that  the  overwhelming  proportion 
of  workingmen  in  the  cities  is  entirely  out  of  touch  with 
the  churches,  .  .  .  They  willingly  admit  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tian principles,  and  claim  their  struggle  to  be  a  religious 
one  at  the  core." 2  At  present  both  the  parties  are  awake  to 
the  situation  as  never  before.  The  Presbyterian,  Method- 
ist, and  other  denominations  are  making  genuine  efforts 
to  reach  the  masses,  and  the  central  labor  unions  are 
exchanging  delegates  with  the  ministers'  associations.3 
The  industrial  people  do  respect  true  religion.  "  In  all  my 
experience  of  meeting  and  talking,  often  becoming  inti- 

1  Letters  from  a  Workingman,  p.  48  ff. 
1  Cochran,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxx,  p.  451. 
1  Stelzle,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxx,  p.  457. 


152  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

mately  acquainted  with  girls  and  women  of  all  sorts,  I 
have  never  known  one,  however  questionable,  by  whom  the 
church  was  not,  after  all,  held  in  respect  as  the  one  all- 
powerful  human  institution."1  This  is  probably  charac- 
teristic of  the  large  mass  of  working  people;  indifferent 
they  may  seem,  deep  down  in  their  hearts  they  feel  the 
need  of  something  satisfying;  they  revere  Christianity. 
"If  society  is  to  be  saved  the  regenerating  power  can 
only  come  from  the  moral-spiritual  nature  of  man."2 
"The  labor  question  is  fundamentally  a  moral  and  reli- 
gious question.  It  will  never  be  settled  upon  any  other 
basis,  therefore  the  church  has  a  most  important  part 
in  the  solution  of  this  world  problem." 3  Wide  as  the  gulf 
seems,  it  is  not  deep  and  can  be  filled  in  until  the  attach- 
ment between  the  church  and  the  industrial  people  is 
perfect.  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  "the  field  is  white  for 
the  harvest."  The  resemblance  is  rather  to  a  plot  of 
potatoes.  What  is  above  ground  is  dry  and  withered, 
looks  absolutely  dead.  Under  the  surface,  however,  are 
the  healthy  tubers.  They  are  worth  digging  for,  but  it 
costs  a  backache. 

This  must  close  the  brief  sketch  of  the  mental  and  moral 
life  of  the  industrial  people  of  America.  It  has  been  shown 
in  previous  chapters  how  the  financial  resources  of  the 
workers  are  so  limited  that  not  only  is  proper  physical 
development  often  prevented,  but  the  highest  intellectual 
nature  must  be  dwarfed.  In  the  present  part  of  the  study, 
the  results  of  these  conditions,  —  or  possibly,  to  some 
extent,  their  causes,  the  circle  being  complete  —  appear. 
The  tendencies  to  low  thought,  the  purchase  theory  of 
wives,  and  hasty  marriages,  in  many  instances,  entail 
existence  which  is  unworthy  to  be  called  a  home  life. 
Amusements  are  usually  obtained  under  conditions  that 

1  The  Long  Day,  p.  290. 

1  Roberts,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities,  p.  355. 

•  Stelzle,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xxx.  p.  456. 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  153 

endanger  morals.  The  saloon  may  satisfy  certain  legiti- 
mate and  deserving  wants,  but  it  exacts  a  terrible  tribute 
of  money,  efficiency,  and  happiness.  The  masses  are 
improperly  educated  and  are  the  prey  of  follies  and  super- 
stitions. There  is  a  great  gulf  between  the  workingman 
and  the  church.  Yet  at  the  bottom  there  is  solid  ground 
for  hope.  Their  kindliness  to  one  another  shows  that  there 
is  humanity  and  sympathy  in  the  minds  of  the  poor.  The 
feeling  of  discontent  with  their  lot  is  a  possibility  of 
remarkable  progress.  The  church  is  beginning  to  recognize 
its  real  task.  To-day  the  country  has  one  of  its  greatest 
opportunities  for  achieving  the  progress  of  the  industrial 
people. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   LlVlNG   WAGE 

BEFORE  considering  the  actual  amount  of  money  necessary 
to  support  the  average  industrial  family  for  a  year,  it  may 
be  well  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  general  commercial 
position  of  the  poor.  They  must  buy  everything  at  retail, 
and  are,  therefore,  greatly  handicapped  in  securing  full 
value  for  their  money.  Take  for  example  the  matter  of 
rents.  Table  xxxvin  shows,  what  has  previously  been 
mentioned,  that  the  rents  charged  to  the  poor  are  exorbit- 
antly high  in  consideration  both  of  the  resources  of  the 
people  and  of  the  worth  of  the  rented  property.  It  is 
generally  admitted  that  ten  per  cent  is  a  fair  return  upon 

TABLE  XXXVIII 

MONTHLY  RENTS  ACTUALLY  PAID  BY  FIFTEEN  FAMILIES,  COMPARED  WITH 
RENTS  NECESSARY  TO  SECURE  A  TEN  PER  CENT  RETURN  ON  FULL  VALUE 
OF  PROPERTY1 


1 

s 

6 

6 

7 

9 
10 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16J 
17 
18 
19 

1  Taken  from  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  no  64,  p.  621, 


Market  value 

property 

Rent  value 

Rent  paid 

Excess  paid 

$420 

$3.50 

$8.50 

$5.00 

330 

2.75 

5.00 

2.25 

360 

3.00 

7.00 

4.00 

390 

3.25 

5.00 

1.75 

600 

5.00 

6.00 

1.00 

1284 

10.70 

12.50 

1.80 

300 

2.50 

5.00 

2.50 

357 

2.98 

4.00 

1.02 

900 

7.50 

8.50 

1.00 

600 

5.00 

7.30 

2.30 

375 

3.13 

5.00 

1.87 

900 

7.50 

7.50 

750 

6.25 

9.00 

2.75 

1500 

12.50 

14.00 

1.50 

650 

5.42 

10.00 

4.58 

THE  LIVING  WAGE  155 

the  full  value  of  real  property  for  a  year,  yet  the  first  house 
on  the  list  yields  its  owner  over  twenty-four  per  cent.  j 
These  figures  were  obtained  by  Dr.  Forman  for  the  city 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  but  are  probably  not  unrepresent- 
ative of  a  large  part  of  the  country.  Here  it  appears  that 
the  fifteen  families  spend  for  rent  $114.30  per  month  or 
forty-one  per  cent  more  than  just  prices  would  warrant. 
Another  illustration  of  the  extra  cost  entailed  by  retail 
purchase  of  housing  is  furnished  in  Table  xxxix.  There 
it  is  developed  that  rent  per  room  falls  as  the  size  of  the 
apartment  increases  until  the  tenement  consists  of  from 
four  to  six  rooms.  So  in  the  buying  of  shelter,  the  poor 
man  is  at  a  great  disadvantage. 

TABLE  XXXIX 

AVERAGE  MONTHLY  RENT  OP  ROOMS   IN  TENEMENTS  OF  SPECIFIED  SIZE l 


Number  of  rooms 
in  apartment 

Average  monthly  rent  in 
Boston            Yonkers           Basil 

I 

5.73 

2.66 

3.01 

2 

4.32 

2.38 

2.20 

3 

3.38 

2.10 

2.01 

4 

3.20 

2.16 

2.05 

5 

3.41 

1.97 

2.13 

6 

3.40 

1.91 

2.34 

7 

3.73 

2.23 

2.34 

8  (or  more) 
Average 

4.68 
3.48 

2.76 
2.09 

2.36 
2.19 

Another  source  of  loss  to  the  poor  comes  to  light  when 
the  purchase  of  supplies  is  considered.  "The  poor  house- 
wife knows  what  good  bargains  are,  but  the  meagreness 
of  her  purse  oftentimes  prevents  her  from  purchasing  sup- 
plies except  in  very  small  quantities.  She  goes  to  the 
grocery  store  and  buys  a  single  bar  of  soap  for  five  cents, 
knowing  very  well  that  she  could  get  six  bars  for  a  quarter, 
and  that  if  she  should  buy  six  bars  she  would  save  five 
cents;  but,  perhaps,  if  so  much  is  spent  for  soap  there  will 
not  be  enough  for  food.  She  is  buying  potatoes  at  the 
1  Taken  from  Economic  Studies,  vol.  iii,  p.  336. 


156  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

market.  For  her  large  family  a  bushel  of  potatoes  would 
not  be  an  oversupply  and  that  quantity  can  be  bought 
for  a  dollar;  but  the  outlay  of  a  dollar  for  potatoes  may 
not  be  possible.  Instead  of  spending  a  dollar  for  a  bushel 
she  spends  eight  cents  for  a  quarter  of  a  peck,  paying  at 
the  rate  of  $1.28  a  bushel,  losing  nearly  30  per  cent  by  the 
transaction.  Three  cans  of  tomatoes  can  be  bought  for 
25  cents,  but  she  has  only  enough  money  for  one  can,  and 
for  that  she  pays  10  cents,  perceiving  clearly  as  she  does 
that  for  every  five  cans  purchased  in  this  way  there 
is  a  clear  loss  of  one  can.  She  has  gone  the  rounds  of  the 
market  and  has  nearly  finished  her  purchases,  but  there 
are  still  butter,  sugar,  coffee  and  salt  to  be  bought,  and 
besides  some  matches  are  needed.  For  all  these  things  she 
has  25  cents  remaining.  Butter  is  30  cents  a  pound;  sugar, 
5  cents;  coffee,  15  cents;  salt,  5  cents  a  large  sack  or  3  cents 
a  small  sack  (the  latter  being  half  as  large  as  the  former) ; 
matches  3  boxes  for  5  cents  or  2  cents  a  box.  The  purchase 
of  a  pound  of  butter  cannot  be  thought  of.  The  purchase 
of  a  half  pound  would  leave  but  10  cents  for  sugar,  coffee, 
salt  and  matches.  If  all  these  desired  articles  are  to  be 
bought,  the  remaining  25  cents  must  be  skillfully  spent. 
Practice  has  taught  our  housewife  the  art  of  making  skill- 
ful divisions.  She  buys  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  butter  for 
8  cents,  a  half  pound  of  sugar  for  3  cents,  half  a  pound 
of  coffee  for  8  cents,  a  small  sack  of  salt  for  3  cents,  a  box 
of  matches  for  2  cents,  and  has  1  cent  left  with  which  to 
buy  an  onion  for  the  soup.  She  has  lost  heavily  on  every 
one  of  these  articles,  including  the  onion,  and  she  knows 
she  has  lost."  l  Sharp  practice  by  tradesmen  is  another 
source  of  loss  —  for  instance  Mr.  Driscoll  of  New  York  — 
finds  that  computing  scales  are  so  rigged  as  to  give  the 
owner  $1  or  $2  a  day  "pure  velvet."  One  of  his  inspectors 
remarked  in  a  certain  butcher  shop,  "This  is  the  first 
honest  scale  I  have  found  in  twenty-five  blocks." 
1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  618. 


THE  LIVING  WAGE  157 

Dr.  Forman  concludes  that,  considering  rent  and  living 
expenses,  these  fifteen  families  lost  ten  per  cent  by  reason 
of  bad  bargains.  "If,  therefore,  we  wish  to  form  a  just 
notion  of  what  a  very  poor  man  is  earning,  we  must  sub- 
tract from  his  nominal  earnings  this  one-tenth  which  he 
loses  because  of  his  poverty  and  the  conditions  under  which 
he  purchases."1 

Beside  these  routine  losses,  the  poor  encounter  other 
commercial  disadvantages.  One  of  these  is  the  apparent 
necessity  of  buying  on  the  installment  plan.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  many  an  article  would  never  be  purchased  at  all 
were  it  not  for  this  system,  yet  the  buyer  has  to  meet 
enormous  overcharges  on  everything  thus  obtained.  "A 
dollar  or  more  is  lost  on  a  coarse  blanket,  two  or  three 
dollars  on  an  almost  worthless  rug,  twenty  or  thirty  dol- 
lars on  a  sewing  machine." 2  In  addition  to  the  financial 
wastefulness  of  such  a  method  of  acquisition,  there  is  a 
moral  evil.  To  be  always  in  debt  for  something  is  not 
wholesome,  neither  is  it  elevating  to  feel  that  one  does 
not  own  all  the  furniture  in  the  house,  and  that,  unless 
payments  are  made  promptly,  the  goods  will  be  forfeited 
and  all  that  has  been  paid  for  them  utterly  lost.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  even  more  degrading  when  the  housewife 
yields  to  temptation,  and  so  discourages  the  collector  that 
he  gives  up  his  visits  before  the  full  sum  has  been  paid. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  question  it  is  to  be  said  that, 
granting  the  wastefulness  and  demoralizing  influence  of 
installment  buying,  "with  few  exceptions  those  families 
who  buy  nothing  or  very  little  in  that  way  live  under  con- 
ditions too  bad  to  be  justified  by  any  economic  or  social 
theory." 3  "  The  chief  danger  of  buying  on  the  installment 
plan  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  poor  are  as  a  rule  very  hopeful 
of  the  future,  and  feel,  therefore,  that  something  will  be 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  621. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  615. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  617. 


158  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

sure  to  turn  up  to  make  it  easy  for  the  new  obligation  to 
be  met."1  In  spite  of  its  perniciousness,  installment  buy- 
ing cannot  be  absolutely  and  indiscriminately  condemned. 
In  a  previous  chapter  attention  has  been  called  to  the 
fact  that  the  poor  lose  from  forty  to  one  hundred  per  cent 
when  they  purchase  insurance  at  retail,  not  to  mention 
the  enormous  waste  from  the  policies  which  they  allow  to 
lapse  after  they  have  been  paying  premiums  for  some  time. 
This  was  an  attempt  at  saving.  Now  when  the  opposite 
policy  is  adopted,  when  the  poor  man  finds  that  he  must 
borrow,  and  some  circumstances  seem  amply  to  justify 
loans  for  personal  needs,  he  suffers  again.  Dr.  Chapin 
found  that,  among  318  households  having  incomes  be- 
tween $600  and  $1099  in  New  York  City,  forty-two  fam- 
ilies borrowed  money  and  twenty-three  pawned  articles.2 
When  a  loan  has  to  be  made  the  companies,  which  adver- 
tise interest  rates  of  forty  to  sixty  per  cent,  actually  charge 
from  138  per  cent  to  221  per  cent  per  annum,  and  enforce 
such  rates  with  terrible  threats  of  foreclosing  the  chattel 
mortgages  which  they  have  taken  as  security.3  Pawning 
is  not  quite  so  expensive  a  method  of  obtaining  funds.  In 
Cincinnati  in  1896,  the  pawnbrokers  rates  were  ten  per 
cent  per  month  for  loans  of  less  than  $20,  five  per  cent  for 
accommodations,  $20  to  $50,  and  three  per  cent  for  more 
than  $50,  that  is,  their  lowest  charge  was  thirty-six  per 
cent  a  year.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  allowed  a  charge 
of  five  and  a  half  per  cent  per  month.4  Thus  it  is  evident 
that  wherever  they  turn  for  financial  aid,  the  poor,  too 
ignorant  to  know  and  profit  by  the  law,  are  forced  to  pay 
outrageous  usury.  In  addition  to  all  this,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  fraudulent  investment  agents  find  their  most 
ready  victims  among  the  industrial  people. 

1  Brown,  Development  of  Thrift,  p.  24. 
1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  p.  244. 
1  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  no.  64,  p.  627. 
_«  Miller.  Economic  Studies,  vol.  i,  p.  130  ff. 


THE  LIVING  WAGE  159 

In  this  hasty  sketch  enough  has  been  said  to  justify 
the  statement  that  the  very  poor  lose  heavily  in  all  their 
transactions  involving  money.  True,  most  of  the  in- 
dustrial people  have  many  advantages  over  the  very 
poor  in  financial  matters,  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  most 
grades  of  laborers  are  more  or  less  subject  to  all  of  these 
losses.  The  poor  man's  dollar  does  not  bring  him  as 
much  as  the  rich  man's  dollar,  although  it  is  very  much 
harder  to  earn. 

With  these  facts  in  mind,  but  without  attempting  to 
complicate  the  problem  by  applying  them,  it  is  now  possi- 
ble to  estimate  the  "living  wage."  Mr.  Gompers  has  de- 
fined a  living  wage  as  "a  wage  which,  when  expended  in  the 
most  economical  manner,  shall  be  sufficient  to  maintain 
the  average-sized  family  in  a  manner  consistent  with  what- 
ever the  contemporary  local  civilization  recognizes  as 
indispensable  to  physical  and  mental  health,  or,  as  being 
required  by  the  rational  self-respect  of  human  beings."1 
There  is  just  one  phrase  in  this  definition  to  which  excep- 
tion must  be  taken,  at  least  so  far  as  the  wording  is  con- 
cerned. It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  the  "most  economical" 
expenditure  cannot  be  expected  of  the  housewife  in  the 
typical  industrial  family.  To  spend  most  economically 
requires  far  more  knowledge  than  is  possessed  by  the 
average  woman.  If  the  definition  is  changed  to  read, 
"expended  in  the  most  economical  manner  consistent 
with  the  intelligence  of  the  average  housewife"  the  diffi- 
culty will  be  obviated.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  more- 
over, that  the  "rational  self-respect  of  human  beings" 
would  require  the  saving  of  enough  to  provide  for  an 
independent  old  age. 

Unless  the  living  wage  is  paid  to  all  men,  the  married, 

who  most  need  regular  work,  will  be  at  a  disadvantage  in 

competition  with  single  men  for  employment.   Therefore, 

the  living  wage  should  be  the  minimum  wage  for  all  adult 

1  Ryan,  A  Living  Wage,  p.  129. 


160  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

males.  Such  a  minimum  has  been  variously  estimated. 
John  Mitchell  has  fixed  it  at  $600  for  cities  of  less  than  one 
hundred  thousand  population.1  "A  prominent  official 
in  one  of  the  largest  charities  in  New  York  City  thinks  that 
$2.00  a  day,  or  about  $624  a  year  is  necessary  for  a  family 
of  five  in  that  city." 2  Professor  Ryan  is  willing  to  accept 
$600.  He  thus  summarizes  his  conclusions:  "Anything 
less  than  $600  per  year  is  NOT  a  Living  Wage  in  any  of  the 
cities  of  the  United  States;  second,  this  sum  is  PROBABLY 
a  Living  Wage  in  those  cities  in  the  Southern  States  in 
which  fuel,  clothing,  food,  and  some  other  items  of  expend- 
iture are  cheaper  than  in  the  North;  third,  it  is  POSSIBLY 
a  Living  Wage  in  the  moderately  sized  cities  of  the  West, 
North,  and  East;  and  fourth,  in  some  of  the  largest  cities 
of  the  last  named  regions,  it  is  certainly  NOT  a  Living 
Wage."3 

It  was  such  a  surprise  to  many  when  the  committee  of 
the  New  York  State  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tions decided  that  $825  was  the  necessary  income  to  allow 
a  family  of  five  to  maintain  a  fairly  proper  standard  of 
living  in  New  York  City,  that  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  $600  is  not  too  low  a  minimum  for  the  large 
majority  of  the  smaller  cities  in  the  North,  East,  and  West.4 
To  test  this  criterion,  a  very  intelligent  man  who  works 
at  odd  jobs  in  Middletown,  Connecticut,  was  consulted.5 
At  first  he  was  confident  that  a  decent  living  could  not 
be  obtained  for  less  than  $750  per  year.  It  was  impressed 
upon  him  that  it  was  a  minimum  wage,  merely  enough  to 
maintain  physical  and  mental  efficiency  that  was  sought. 
On  the  basis  of  his  accounts  for  1908,  and  much  careful 

1  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  p.  118. 

1  Hunter,  Poverty,  p.  51. 

*  Ryan,  A  Living  Wage,  p.  150. 

4  Chanties  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xix,  p.  1053. 

8  Note:  He  used  to  be  a  skilled  dyer  earning  large  wages,  but  the 
chemicals  ruined  his  health  so  that  he  has  been  compelled  to  do  out-of- 
door  work,  such  as  grass-cutting  and  snow-shoveling. 


THE  LIVING  WAGE  161 

calculation,  he  finally  produced  the  following  as  his  mini- 
mum estimate: 

Minimum  cost  of  living  for  one  year  for  family  of  five 

Rent  $120. 
Fuel,  5  tons  of  coal  35. 

1  cord  of  wood  5. 

Food,  Groceries  168. 
Milk,  1  quart  per  day  at  8  cents  29.20 

Vegetables  24. 

Meat  and  fish  96. 

Clothing  140. 

Church  and  other  organizations  20. 

Pleasure  20. 

Doctor  12. 

Miscellaneous  40. 

Total  709.20 

This  estimate  can  be  summarized  thus: 

Rent  $120.  16.9  % 

Food  317.20  44.8 

Clothing  140.  19.7 

Fuel  40.                     5.1 

This  leaves  13.5  per  cent  for  other  expenditures  which, 
in  comparison  with  the  standards  in  chapter  on  budgets, 
is  not  excessively  large. 

Now  assume  arbitrarily  that  the  family  consists  of  a 
husband,  a  wife,  a  boy  between  eleven  and  fourteen,  a 
child,  between  seven  and  ten,  and  a  baby  under  three;  the 
total  food  consumption  will  be  that  of  3.70  adult  males.1 
At  twenty-two  cents  per  man  per  day,  it  would  cost  $297 
a  year  to  provide  adequate  nourishment  for  this  household. 
The  estimate  of  this  man,  then,  was  not  too  high.  His 
family,  especially  his  wife,  is  not  by  any  means  well  clothed 
in  the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  but  appears  to  be  equipped 
with  the  minimum  for  health  and  comfort.  Reduce  his 
figure  for  clothing  to  $120.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Dr.  Chapin  concluded  that  a  family  could  not  be  clothed 
for  less  than  $100,  and  did  not  affirm  that  this  sum  would 

1  18th  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  103. 


162  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

suffice.1  His  estimate  makes  absolutely  no  provision  for 
night-clothes,  overshoes  and  other  equipment  necessary 
for  encountering  storms,  and  the  amount  allowed  for  foot 
wear,  particularly  for  each  boy,  is  incredibly  small.  So 
$120  for  clothing  is  certainly  not  too  high,  especially  in 
the  light  of  the  standard  fixed  by  the  Iowa  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics.  One  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  year 
will  not  hire  a  very  good  house,  but  diminish  this  figure 
to  $100.  The  necessary  expenses  now  are: 

Food  $297 

Rent  100 

Clothing  120 

Fuel  40 
Church  and  other  organizations         20 

Medical  attendance  12 

Amusement  20 

Miscellaneous  40 

Total  649 

Surely  this  is  not  a  high  estimate  for  a  Living  Wage. 
It  makes  no  provision  for  saving.  Middletown  is  a  small 
city,  and  its  prices  are  comparatively  low.  The  estimate 
was  very  carefully  made  as  a  minimum  and  then  reduced 
by  sixty  dollars.  It  is,  then,  conservative  to  set  $650  as 
the  extreme  low  limit  of  the  Living  Wage  in  cities  of  the 
North,  East,  and  West.  Probably  $600  is  high  enough  for 
the  cities  of  the  South.  At  this  wage  there  can  be  no 
saving  and  a  minimum  of  pleasure.  Yet  there  are  in  the 
United  States,  at  least  five  million  industrial  workmen 
who  are  earning  $600  or  less  a  year. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  1,116,199  men  engaged  in 
manufacture  alone  are  earning  no  more  than  $400  per 
annum,  and  2,009,914  are  receiving  no  more  than  $500. 
If  all  industrial  occupations  are  considered,  probably  four 
million  men  are  not  enjoying  annual  incomes  of  $600.2 

1  Chapin,  Standard  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  pp.  166,  187  note. 

2  See  chapter  on  incomes. 


CHAPTER  XII 

POSSIBILITIES 

IN  the  preceding  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
picture  the  life  of  the  American  Industrial  People.  It  has 
been  developed  that  over  a  fifth  of  the  adult  male  laborers 
are  idle  at  least  a  part  of  the  time;  that  for  this  fifth,  the 
average  period  of  unemployment  is  about  twelve  weeks, 
and  that  the  total  annual  loss  to  the  nation  is  over  a 
million  years  of  working  time.  This  enormous  waste  of 
potential  labor  power  is  largely  due  to  industrial  condi- 
tions, but  is  increased  by  accidents  and  sickness  and  is, 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  cause  of  much  suffering.  This 
evil  intensifies  the  meagreness  of  the  incomes  of  the  men  — 
at  least  five  million  industrial  workers  are  receiving  less 
than  $600  per  year  and  many  do  not  earn  $500.  Irregular 
employment  and  low  wages  are  the  fundamental  evils, 
but  they  have  far-reaching  effects. 

In  the  first  place  every  industrial  community  faces  a 
housing  problem.  Huge  tenements  and  tiny  hovels,  alike 
degrading  to  morals  and  destructive  to  health,  handicap 
the  progress  of  their  inhabitants.  Boarding  and  lodging 
have  a  two-fold  effect,  deleterious  to  both  hosts  and  guests. 
Moreover,  at  least  a  third  of  the  industrial  people  are 
insufficiently  nourished  partly  through  poverty  and  partly 
through  ignorance.  Although  clothing  is  a  more  elusive 
subject  with  which  to  deal,  it  appears  that  many  families 
are  not  properly  provided  against  inclement  weather. 
Dr.  Chapin's  work  shows  that  at  least  a  third  of  the  house- 
holds in  New  York  City  with  incomes  less  than  $1000  are 
not  properly  clad  for  health;  moreover,  even  those  who 
spend  enough  for  apparel  often  woefully  misuse  their 


164  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

funds,  neglecting  the  inside  layer  for  the  outside  appear- 
ance. In  still  another  phase  of  his  life  is  the  laborer  handi- 
capped —  he  is  the  victim  of  accidents  and  disease  due  to 
his  home  conditions  and  to  the  physical  and  nervous  strain 
of  his  work.  One  of  the  saddest  features  of  modern  indus- 
try is  the  premature  wearing  out  of  men. 

In  his  intellectual  and  moral  life  the  workman  is  by  no 
means  all  that  could  be  desired.  He  thinks  and  talks 
impurely,  his  home  life  is  largely  a  matter  of  convenience,, 
there  is  often  little  or  no  spiritual  comradeship  between 
husband  and  wife.  The  saloon  exacts  a  terrible  tribute, 
both  directly  in  money,  and  indirectly  in  physical  and 
mental  suffering.  Amusement  tends  strongly  to  the  sens- 
ual, dancing  leads  frequently  to  gross  immorality  —  yet, 
though  alienated  from  the  church,  the  poor  are  good  at 
heart  and  have  profound  respect  for  things  religious.  The 
church  and  the  workingman  are  beginning  to  feel  the  need 
of  cooperation. 

With  this  summary  of  the  present  condition  of  the  Amer- 
ican industrial  people,  this  essay  might  close,  but  it  seems 
not  improper  to  briefly  note  some  of  the  many  proposals 
and  undertakings  for  ameliorating  their  lot.  As  space  fails 
for  a  full  discussion  and  even  for  a  full  enumeration  of 
these  agencies,  they  can  be  sketched  only  in  their  main 
outlines. 

Unemployment  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
confronting  the  social  reformer.  Especially  baffling  is  the 
idleness  due  to  industrial  conditions;  seasonal  variations 
of  trade,  financial  depressions  and  the  like  now  defy  rem- 
edy. One  suggestion  appears  to  have  some  merit.  The 
wisdom  of  "making  work"  by  the  government  is  more  than 
questionable,  for  while  such  a  policy  may  afford  relief  to 
some  it  overtaxes  others  in  hard  times,  and  public  expendi- 
tures are  already  so  great  that  they  should  not  be  under- 
taken for  anything  which  will  not  be  per  se  widely  bene- 
ficial. On  the  other  hand,  the  curves  in  Charts  4  and  5 


POSSIBILITIES  165 

show  that  work  is  most  slack  during  the  latter  part  of  June, 
July,  August,  and  September,  and  again  in  the  winter 
months  during  January  and  February.  Now  the  summer 
is  the  best  time  for  open-air  labor  and  it  seems  that  if  the 
construction  work  undertaken  by  the  states  and  cities 
could  be  largely  concentrated  in  these  months  the  tem- 
porary depression  in  the  manufacturing  industries  might 
be  somewhat  counterbalanced  without  any  increase  in 
public  expenditure  and  without  permanently  throwing 
any  men  out  of  employment.  The  winter  period  of  idle- 
ness, though  more  intense,  is  shorter.  The  personal 
causes  of  idleness  can  be  better  attacked.  Accidents  and 
sickness,  it  will  be  recalled,  occasion  over  thirty  per  cent 
of  unemployment.  Workmen's  compensation  and  rigidly 
enforced  laws  for  the  safeguarding  of  dangerous  machinery 
can  be  made  to  accomplish  much  in  the  alleviation  of 
suffering,  yet  the  United  States  needs  to  plod  on  another 
step  and  study  the  health  conditions  of  occupations. 
Employers  of  those  engaged  in  dangerous  trades  should 
bear  the  expense  of  the  incident  diseases.  But  this  is  only 
a  step  toward  so  regulating  industry  that  health  will  be 
protected,  and  thus  a  large  amount  of  unemployment  can 
be  checked. 

But  there  is  another  group  of  idle  men  who  have  no 
regular  occupation.  The  public  employment  bureaus, 
such  as  have  been  successfully  established  in  Washington, 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Connecticut,  and  other  states,  in  a 
single  year  supply  over  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  fifty 
thousand  women  with  positions.1  The  cost  of  placing  an 
applicant  varies  from  about  six  cents  in  Washington  to 
upwards  of  a  dollar  in  Connecticut,  but  the  average  is 
pretty  low.  In  order  to  succeed,  an  office  must  have  a 
capable  superintendent  who  can  spend  most  of  his  time 
visiting  employers  and  winning  their  confidence;  great 
care  must  be  exercised  in  supplying  calls  for  help,  lest  the 
1  See  Appendix  E. 


166  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

reputation  of  the  bureau  suffer;  there  must  be  money 
enough  for  judicious  advertising,  and  the  office  should  be 
so  centrally  located  as  not  only  to  make  it  convenient, 
but  to  bring  its  work  before  the  eyes  of  the  newspaper 
reporters.  Yet,  after  all  is  said,  these  public  employment 
bureaus  have  not  thus  far  shown  themselves  capable  of 
very  largely  solving  the  problem  of  involuntary  idleness. 

Probably,  however,  it  is  the  wage  question  which  is  the 
crux  of  the  entire  labor  problem.  If  incomes  could  be 
raised  without  an  exactly  equivalent  rise  in  prices,  unem- 
ployment would  be  more  endurable,  better  houses  could 
be  hired,  better  food  purchased,  better  clothing  worn,  more 
sufficient  provision  made  for  old  age,  more  attention  paid 
to  health  and  more  educational  and  moral  advantages 
enjoyed.  The  unions  have  only  partly  solved  the  situation. 
Without  doubt  they  raise  the  wages  of  their  own  members, 
at  times  even  beyond  what  seems  justifiable;  in  other 
cases  they  are  not  so  successful;  but  for  the  vast  majority 
of  the  unskilled  they  have  done  very  little  good  and  possi- 
bly some  relative  harm.  The  late  tendency  toward  in- 
dustrial, as  opposed  to  trades,  unionism  has  more  promise 
for  the  unskilled  laborers  although  its  working  out  will 
be  a  long,  complicated  process.  The  restriction  of  immigra- 
tion would,  for  a  time  at  least,  limit  the  number  of  un- 
skilled laborers  and  thus  make  them  individually  more 
valuable.  Other  localities  might  be,  perhaps,  saved  from 
the  fate  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  where  it  is  said, 
Poles  working  contentedly  for  seventy-five  cents  a  day, 
have  made  getting  a  living  hard  for  the  older  inhabitants. 
Nor  would  a  policy,  not  of  absolute  exclusion,  but  of  great 
restriction,  be  essentially  unkind  to  the  European  peasan- 
try. Many  of  the  immigrants  are  unmercifully  exploited, 
hordes  are  the  victims  of  tuberculosis  or  other  diseases, 
and  a  large  proportion  are  completely  demoralized.  More- 
over emigration  is  certainly  not  an  unmixed  good  to  the 
old  world,  and  is  looked  upon  by  many  governments  as 


POSSIBILITIES  167 

a  great  peril.  The  doubtful  value  of  restriction  of  immi- 
gration as  a  partial  solution  of  the  wage  problem  lies  in 
the  difficulty  of  devising  any  fair  and  effective  basis  of 
selection  of  those  admitted,  and  the  difficulty  of  securing 
Congressional  legislation  upon  the  subject  against  the 
opposition  of  large  business  interests,  and  finally  in  the 
possibility  that  the  births  among  the  present  laboring 
classes  might  be  so  increased  that  within  a  few  years  the 
excess  of  laborers  would  be  as  great  as  ever. 

Another  expedient  for  raising  incomes  to  a  satisfactory 
standard  is  the  "Minimum  Wage  Board."  Such  a  body 
should  consist  of  equal  numbers  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees from  a  given  industry  with  a  non-interested  chair- 
man. They  would  meet  frequently  and  set  a  minimum 
wage  below  which  no  employer  could  go,  although  he 
might  pay  more  if  he  thought  best.  Victoria,  Australia, 
has  nearly  forty  such  bodies  the  first  of  which  were  estab- 
lished in  1896,  and  they  are  apparently  successful  in  rais- 
ing wages  and  increasing  employment  in  dull  times.  They 
are  popular  among  the  workers.  The  experiment  of  wage 
boards  among  the  "home  workers"  in  England  is  being 
begun  this  year,  and  the  National  Consumers'  League  is 
advocating  a  similar  policy  in  American  industries  employ- 
ing women  and  children.  While  the  efficacy  of  this  institu- 
tion is  not  yet  proved  it  is  well  worth  study  and  perhaps  a 
trial,  as  the  experiment  would  be  fraught  with  no  great 
danger. 1 

Of  the  more  specific  evils  growing  out  of  low  incomes, 
bad  housing  was  one  of  the  first  to  claim  attention.  In 
the  Bulletin  of  the. Bureau  of  Labor  for  September,  1904, 
Mr.  G.  W.  W.  Hanger,  told  of  sixteen  firms  which  have 
undertaken  to  supply  good  and  cheap  houses  for  their 
employees.  All  of  these  undertakings  were  meeting  with 
fair  success,  but  in  some  cases,  the  accommodations  pro- 
vided at  low  rates  were  obviously  insufficient  for  decent 
1  See  Article  by  John  A.  Ryan,  Survey,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  810. 


168  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

living.  A  South  Carolina  firm  supplied  cottages  at  $.50 
per  room  per  month,  barely  enough  for  repairs  and  taxes, 
but  the  buildings  were  of  an  inferior  sort,  though  "good 
enough  for  the  people  who  occupied  them."  Aside  from 
this  case,  which  was  not  financially  a  paying  venture,  the 
lowest  rental  was  $1.50  per  month  for  four  rooms.  Now 
four  rooms  is  rightly  considered  by  Dr.  Chapin,  and  John 
Mitchell,  insufficient  for  a  typical  family,  and  it  did  not 
appear  that  more  than  four  rooms  could  be  hired  for  less 
than  eight  dollars  a  month  in  any  case.  Yet  it  can  be  said 
that  these  undertakings  seem  to  demonstrate  that  for  a 
reasonable  rent,  good  houses  can  be  provided.  There  have 
been  numerous  semi-philanthropic  experiments  in  provid- 
ing cheap  good  shelter,  notably  in  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Washington.  The  City  and  Suburban  Homes  Com- 
pany has  helped  many  mechanics  to  purchase  their  houses. 
A  Washington  Sanitary  Improvement  Company  has 
earned  five  per  cent  dividends  on  its  houses,  but  its  charges 
are  $9.50  to  $11  a  month  for  three  rooms.  A  new  com- 
pany has  there  been  formed  to  rent  apartments  at  $7  or 
$8,  with  the  expectation  of  earning  four  per  cent.1  And 
now  Mr.  M.  D.  Morrill  is  building  his  first  six  room  con- 
crete house  which  he  claims  will  cost  $1200  or  less  if  20 
or  more  are  built  at  one  time.2  At  least  three  great  diffi- 
culties must  be  overcome  in  providing  model  shelter  for 
the  poor  on  a  commercial  basis.  Good  houses  may  be  so 
expensive  that  laborers  will  not  be  able  to  pay  the  rents; 
a  reform  entails  more  rental  or  lessened  profits.3  Second, 
such  supervision  of  model  property  as  is  necessary  to  earn 
interest  and  furnish  cheap  but  respectable  houses  requires 
an  unusual  amount  of  business  acumen.  Finally,  houses 
may  easily  be  made  so  attractive  as  to  appeal  to  the  me- 
chanic and  others  receiving  high  wages,  and  so  the  poor 

1  Steinberg,  Charities  and  the  Commons,  vol.  xii,  p.  726  ff. 

*  The  Survey,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  98. 

*  De  Forest,  A.  A.  A.,  vol.  xx,  p.  94. 


POSSIBILITIES  169 

may  not  be  helped  at  all.  In  concluding  the  whole  matter 
it  may  be  well  to  quote  Mr.  Gould,  who  after  describing 
various  attempts  at  private  reform  says,  "The  analysis 
of  Economic  experience  here  presented  shows  conclusively 
that  five  per  cent  in  dividends  and  a  safe  reserve  can  be 
earned  on  model  tenement  dwellings  anywhere,  charging 
customary  rents,  provided  the  total  cost  of  the  completed 
property  does  not  exceed  $500  per  room." x  For  the  achieve- 
ment of  this  result,  however,  cheap  land  easy  of  access, 
a  low  cost  of  construction,  a  knowledge  of  the  people,  and 
a  supply  of  rare  tact  are  requisite.  In  view  of  all  these 
difficulties  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  any  comprehen- 
sive reform  of  housing  conditions  will  be  accomplished  by 
private  enterprise. 

If  private  means  cannot  be  relied  upon,  the  state  must 
be  appealed  to,  and  it  is  through  law  that  the  problem  of 
housing  can  probably  best  be  solved.  The  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  tenement  house  codes  are  very  successful  in 
bettering  the  homes  of  the  poor.  Other  states  and  cities 
are  adopting  similar  statutes,  and  the  tenement  houses 
can  be  said  to  be  suffering  the  initial  steps  of  a  transforma- 
tion for  the  better.  The  more  rapid  the  development  of 
these  tenement  house  laws,  properly  enforced,  the  happier 
will  be  the  working  classes.  But  the  tenements  do  not 
comprise  the  whole  problem.  Boards  of  health  by  enforc- 
ing codes  requiring  sewer  connections,  tested  plumbing, 
one  toilet  to  each  family,  and  adequate  water  supplies  can 
make  impossible  the  renting  of  many  of  the  ramshackle 
single  or  double  houses  now  in  use.  These  shanties  have 
no  right  to  exist  and  must  be  suppressed  by  vigorous 
measures.  If  no  other  way  is  possible  the  method  of  Buffalo 
is  available.  There  the  Board  of  Health  may  order  ten- 
ants to  be  evicted  unless  requirements  for  improvement 
are  met  within  a  specified  period.  However,  if  they  can- 
not find  other  accommodations,  the  tenants  may  live  on, 
1  Gould,  Yale  Review,  vol.  v,  p.  15. 


170  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

for  a  limited  time,  rent  free,  until  orders  are  obeyed  by  the 
landlord.  Enforced  law  can  make  the  ownership  of  unsan- 
itary houses  financially  impossible. 

America  is  now  at  the  proper  stage  to  finally  solve  its 
housing  problems.  With  Boards  of  Health,  Tenement 
House  Commissions  and  their  respective  codes,  discovered 
and  fairly  perfected,  as  tools  of  reform,  is  allied  a  new 
movement.  The  exodus  of  the  factories  to  the  small  cities 
brings,  it  is  true,  great  danger  of  congestion  to  these  muni- 
cipalities; but  if  they  are  only  awake  to  history  in  the 
making,  they  can  profit  by  experience  and  expand  without 
developing  such  unwholesome  tenements  as  existed  in 
New  York  and  Jersey  City,  such  hovels  as  are  to  be  found 
near  the  Chicago  stockyards,  or  such  back  alley  miseries 
as  are  present  in  Philadelphia  and  San  Francisco.  If  they 
are  vigilant,  growing  cities  may  avoid  unsavory  notoriety 
for  their  slums. 

The  worst  of  the  evils  due  to  boarding  and  lodging  occur 
in  the  tenement  houses  and  will  be  corrected  as  good  laws 
against  overcrowding  are  enforced,  but  for  those  family-less 
persons  who  take  up  their  residence  in  buildings  devoted 
to  the  boarding  or  lodging  business,  a  great  deal  must  be 
done.  The  first  thing  is  to  require  by  law  the  provision 
of  parlors  that  guests,  especially  women,  shall  not  be  com- 
pelled to  entertain  their  company  in  their  own  rooms. 
This  alone  would  be  a  great  step  in  advance,  but  something 
is  needed  to  prevent  the  de-humanizing  process  that  makes 
selfish  bachelors  and  spinsters  of  these  lonesome  creatures. 
The  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciations are  making  a  noble  effort  to  attract  and  entertain 
young  people,  settlements  do  something,  but  the  bulk  of 
the  work  is  incumbent  upon  the  church.  When  country 
youths  seek  the  city,  they  should  be  preceded  by  letters 
to  the  pastors  of  city  churches,  they  should  be  followed  up, 
entertained  a  bit,  and  enticed  into  friendships  in  good 
society.  Thus  their  new  surroundings  can  be  made  more 


POSSIBILITIES  171 

agreeable,  and  they  will  not  be  driven  into  morose  isola- 
tion by  the  fact  that  no  one  is  interested  in  them.  Through 
the  country  new-comers  the  church  can  reach  the  natives 
of  the  city.  This  work  constitutes  a  great  opportunity 
which  is  being  neglected. 

The  next  subject  that  forced  itself  into  consideration 
was  the  prevalence  of  undernutrition  among  the  industrial 
people.  Of  course  the  obvious  remedy  is  to  increase  in- 
comes until  an  expenditure  of  at  least  twenty-two  cents 
per  man  per  day  can  be  universal.  Yet  that  would  be  only 
a  beginning,  for  the  poor  must  be  taught  how  to  spend 
their  money  wisely.  The  campaign  of  education  is  already 
being  carried  on  by  visiting  nurses,  friendly  visitors, 
settlement  workers  and  other  charities.  Much  more  could 
be  accomplished  by  the  wider  introduction  of  classes  in 
domestic  economy  —  not  in  the  high  schools,  for  hardly 
a  tenth  of  the  children  ever  go  through  them,1  but  in  the 
grades.  The  simple  arts  of  keeping  fires,  and  of  cooking 
staple  articles  of  diet  should  be  thoroughly  drilled  into  the 
young  girls.  They  could  be  taught  that  the  cheaper  cuts 
of  meat  are  just  as  nutritious  as  the  choicer  portions,  that 
much  grease  is  to  be  abhorred,  that  more  fats  and  carbo- 
hydrates can  be  eaten  in  winter  than  in  summer,  and  which, 
foods  are  rich  in  proteids,  which  in  carbohydrates.  With 
economy  in  fuel,  plain  cooking,  and  the  rudiments  of 
dietary  hygiene  thoroughly  mastered,  by  the  children  of 
the  grades,  a  generation  would  probably  witness  quite  an 
improvement  in  the  nutrition  of  the  laboring  people,  but 
it  is  not  necessary  to  wait  a  generation.  Evening  classes 
and  free  lectures  for  mothers,  and  a  wide  circulation  of 
literature  similar  to  that  used  in  the  anti-tuberculosis  cam- 
paign could  accomplish  a  great  deal  in  a  few  years. 

Passing  over  the  matter  of  dress  which  will  find  its 
correctives  largely  in  increased  intelligence  if  domestic 
economy  is  seriously  taught  in  the  schools,  the  matter  of 
1  Ayres,  Laggards  in  Our  Schools,  pp.  S  and  14. 


172  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

thrift  is  the  next  to  claim  attention.  The  poor  are  not 
possessed  of  sufficient  business  acumen  to  make  their  own 
investments,  building  and  loan  associations  appear  to 
have  reached  their  zenith,  and  to  be  on  the  decline,  prob- 
ably because  it  is  becoming  increasingly  more  precarious 
for  a  workingman  to  own  his  home,  so  the  savings  banks 
and  insurance  companies  are  about  the  only  institutions 
which  help  the  poor  to  make  provision  for  the  future. 
But  the  savings  banks  are  too  largely  limited  in  their 
territory,  and  many  of  them  do  not  feel  inclined  to  under- 
take a  large  mail  business.  It  is  then  particularly  fortu- 
nate that  this  year  has  witnessed  the  establishment  of 
postal  savings  banks.  In  other  countries,  the  postal  savings 
bank  has  proven  itself  an  institution  of  widespread  benevo- 
lent effect.  The  government  has  the  confidence  of  people 
who  dare  trust  no  other  agency;  the  provision  for  the  sale 
of  deposit  stamps  for  ten  cents  will  be  available  to  school 
teachers  in  educating  their  charges  to  save;  and  an  ac- 
count may  be  opened  by  any  one  over  ten  years  of  age 
with  a  deposit  of  a  dollar.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  first 
few  offices  to  be  established  will  be  so  successful  that  none 
can  dispute  the  value  of  the  institution,  but  there  is 
ground  to  fear  that,  by  opening  the  first  depositaries  in 
cities  where  there  are  many  savings  banks  already  estab- 
lished, and  by  issuing  certificates  instead  of  pass-books, 
the  plan  will  be  denied  the  best  trial. 

The  problem  of  health  has  already  been  touched  upon 
in  connection  with  accidents  and  the  diseases  of  occupa- 
tions as  causes  of  unemployment.  The  fight  against  child 
labor  and  the  campaign  of  the  Consumers'  League  to  regu- 
late the  labor  of  women  are  essentially  health  movements, 
but  effective  work  is  being  done  in  an  entirely  distinct 
field.  The  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  has 
taken  up  a  form  of  welfare  work  with  the  business  purpose 
of  extending  the  life  of  its  policy-holders.  After  vigorously 
,  cooperating  with  the  Anti-Tuberculosis  movement  in  a 


POSSIBILITIES  173 

"War  upon  Consumption"  it  has  placed  its  field  force  at 
the  disposal  of  boards  of  health  and  sanitary  associations, 
and,  further,  has  arranged  in  over  forty  cities  to  extend  a 
free  nurse  service  to  its  policy-holders.  The  value  of  the 
visits  of  these  nurses  can  hardly  be  estimated  —  for  their 
work  is  preventive,  educational.  Soon  this  company  will 
probably  have  a  sanitorium  at  the  disposal  of  its  tubercu- 
lous policy-holders.  From  another  angle,  medical  inspec- 
tion in  the  schools  is  destined  to  do  much  toward  improv- 
ing the  health  of  the  masses,  for  a  little  attention  during 
childhood  can  often  avert  many  physical  perils  that  come 
from  adenoids,  slight  spinal  curvatures,  deficient  eyesight, 
and  poor  teeth.  This  work  not  only  improves  health,  but 
promotes  education.  Another  very  important  matter  is 
that  of  the  length  of  the  working  day.  The  Eighteenth 
Annual  Report  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statis- 
tics contains  an  eloquent  appeal  for  shorter  hours  of  labor, 
and  shows  that  though  in  some  cases  production  is  dimin- 
ished by  the  shortening  of  the  working  day,  in  others  there 
is  no  reduction  in  output.  At  any  rate,  the  curtailment  in 
the  productivity  of  labor  is  never  so  great  as  the  increased 
efficiency  per  hour.  John  Rae  concludes,  "The  effect  of 
shorter  hours  on  the  general  wages  of  labour  depends 
entirely  on  their  effect  on  production.  If  they  lessen  pro- 
duction generally,  they  will  lower  wages  generally,  but 
they  have  not,  in  fact,  lowered  production  generally  in 
the  past,  and  they  have  consequently  not  lowered  wages."  * 
The  beneficial  effect  of  shorter  days  upon  the  workingmen 
generally  cannot  be  disputed.  "The  men  who  work  the 
longest  hours  spend  the  most  time  in  the  saloon.  It  is  the 
man  whose  vitality  has  been  least  exhausted  who  is  more 
easily  content  to  go  directly  home  after  his  day's  work  is 
done."2  "The  unanimous  testimony  of  all  competent 
observers,  teachers,  ministers  and  sociologists,  has  been 

1  Rae,  Eight  Hours  for  Work,  p.  242. 
*  Letters  from  a  Workingman,  p.  44. 


174  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

to  the  effect  that  a  reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor  almost 
invariably  means  an  improvement  in  the  whole  moral 
tone  of  the  community,  a  raising  of  the  standard  of  living, 
a  growth  of  self-respect  of  the  workingman,  and  a  dim- 
inution, not  an  increase  in  drunkenness,  violence,  and 
crime.  If  the  American  workman  can  be  entrusted  with 
suffrage,  it  is  certainly  safe  to  entrust  him  with  a  few 
hours  of  leisure."1 

Finally,  and  perhaps  the  most  authoritative  utterance 
upon  the  subject,  is  the  opinion  of  the  United  States 
Industrial  Commission:  "On  the  side  of  the  working 
population  there  can  be  no  question  respecting  the  desir- 
ability of  fewer  hours,  from  every  standpoint.  They  gain 
not  only  in  health,  but  also  in  morality,  temperance,  and 
preparation  for  citizenship." 2  Thus  the  improvement  in 
health  must  be  a  product  of  many  factors  among  which 
are  legislation  compelling  the  protection  of  workingmen 
from  all  the  dangers  of  occupation,  both  accidents  and 
poisons,  the  welfare  work  of  insurance  companies,  health 
boards,  and  sanitary  associations,  medical  inspection  in 
the  schools,  the  reform  of  housing,  the  improvement  in 
the  choice  of  food  and  clothing,  and  the  curtailing  of  the 
hours  of  labor  in  order  that  undue  fatigue  may  not  under- 
mine the  system. 

At  so  many  points  in  their  life  has  ignorance  increased 
the  misery  of  the  industrial  people  that  education  has 
frequently  been  believed  to  be  the  one  sure  cure  for  all 
present  ills.  More  knowledge  would  certainly  be  of  the 
greatest  assistance  to  the  workingmen's  families.  In  the 
first  place,  any  amount  of  culture  is  worth  while  in  itself. 
Carlyle  thought  it  a  tragedy  that  one  man,  capable  of 
knowledge,  should  die  ignorant.  It  is  worth  considerable 
effort  to  be  able  to  enjoy  a  good  book,  to  appreciate  a 
good  sermon,  to  go  into  raptures  —  gushing  or  unexpressed 

1  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  p.  125. 

1  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  vol.  xix,  p.  772. 


POSSIBILITIES  175 

—  over  a  beautiful  view,  or  to  know  and  love  men.  Edu- 
cation, almost  without  regard  to  its  exact  content,  gives 
capacity  for  all  this  and  more,  but  it  were  misfortune 
indeed  to  have  this  love  and  yearning  for  the  good  without 
the  ability  to  satisfy  the  desire.  And,  to  a  large  extent, 
education  helps  to  sate  the  wants  it  engenders,  for  it 
increases  efficiency.  It  is  said  that  Russian  peasants  can- 
not handle  American  farm  implements,  simply  because 
their  minds  have  not  been  trained  to  the  adaptation 
necessary  for  using  such  machinery.  This  is  one  of  Ricar- 
do's  "strong  cases,"  but  it  serves  to  illustrate  the  point 
that  knowledge  is  transmutable. 

The  education  which  is  offered  by  the  American  public 
schools  to-day,  however,  is  not  the  most  beneficial  for  the 
great  mass  of  people.  Doubtless  every  boy  should  know 
his  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  grammar;  that  is,  he 
should  have  a  good  command  of  the  vernacular  and  should 
know  how  to  keep  his  own  accounts.  In  a  democracy,  every 
child  should  be  taught  something  of  civics  and  of  appreci- 
ative history  of  his  country.  Further  than  this,  however, 
it  is  hard  to  say  that  there  is  any  subject  necessary  to  all 
children.  Yet  there  are  certain  studies  which  undoubtedly 
deserve  a  higher  place  than  they  are  now  accorded.  Among 
these,  one  of  the  first  is  physical  culture.  Mention  has 
been  made  of  the  surprising  number  of  defective  children 
in  the  schools;  a  systematic  physical  examination  and 
more  attention  to  defects  that  can  be  corrected  by  exer- 
cises, might,  especially  if  combined  with  active,  interested 
cooperation  between  parent,  teacher,  and  school  physician, 
prevent  epidemics,  improve  general  health,  and  raise  the 
physical  standard  of  the  race.  Since  "The  business  of 
education  is  adaptation  to  environment,"  and  since  about 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  boys  will  have  to  work  with  their 
hands,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  prepare  these  youths 
for  their  future  tasks.1  Industrial  training,  whether  it  aim 
1  Professor  Raymond  Dodge. 


176  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 

to  develop  trade  skill,  or  only  to  cultivate  general  adapta- 
bility, would  be  of  infinite  value  to  the  average  school  boy. 
It  has  been  demonstrated  in  Cincinnati,  that  this  chance 
to  use  tools  improves  scholarship  in  other  departments, 
and  so  interests  boys  that  they  remain  longer  in  school. 
So  not  only  does  this  important  study  directly  fit  the 
majority  of  the  pupils  for  their  inevitable  environment, 
but  it  affords  additional  opportunity  for  the  teachers  to 
instill  the  more  strictly  cultural  ideas  that  so  increase 
the  pleasures  of  life.  Indeed,  manual  training  has  one 
additional  advantage.  Pedagogical  leaders  now  agree  that 
moral  development  is  the  most  important  product  of 
education.  Manual  training  has  a  distinct  moral  value. 
Exact  measurements  require  honest  effort  and  an  honest 
attitude  toward  that  work.  Moreover,  such  exercises 
develop  persistence  in  spite  of  discouragement,  and  in- 
spire boys  with  the  constructive  spirit.  A  corresponding 
training  in  domestic  economy  for  the  girls  has  already 
been  mentioned.  This  kind  of  instruction  is  needed  to 
adapt  the  boys  and  many  of  the  girls  to  the  environment 
in  which  they  are  to  spend  most  of  their  lives. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  an  extensive  introduction 
of  manual  training  and  domestic  economy  into  the  schools 
would  contribute  largely,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  the 
happiness  of  the  industrial  people,  but  there  is  just  one 
other  subject  that  should  be  taught  to  every  youth  —  sex 
hygiene.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  wide 
prevalence  of  venereal  disease.  The  physicians  repeatedly 
state  that  the  only  remedy  is  a  universal  knowledge  of 
the  facts,  and  yet,  very  few  people  realize  either  the  nature 
of  the  afflictions  or  their  terrible  grip  upon  mankind.  If 
the  home  had  not  failed,  there  would  be  no  necessity  of 
calling  upon  the  school.  But  the  home  has  not  yet  shown 
itself  capable  of  coping  with  this  plague,  and,  since  such 
institutions  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  reach  relatively  few  young 
persons,  the  task  seems  to  devolve  upon  the  school.  In 


POSSIBILITIES  177 

proper  hands  instruction  upon  this  subject  could  be  made 
dignified,  free  from  embarrassment,  and  extremely  effect- 
ive in  checking  the  ravages  of  sex  diseases.  Even  if  such 
teaching  imposed  no  restraint  upon  the  passions  of  men, 
girls  would  be  warned  to  choose  their  husbands  carefully. 
If  any  considerable  number  of  young  ladies  should  heed 
this  warning,  the  men  would  be  compelled  to  be  more 
strict  in  their  conduct. 

One  other  advantage  of  a  more  complete  and  rational 
education  must  be  noticed;  men  would  be  given  higher 
ideals  of  life  if  they  could  be  longer  held  in  the  class  room. 
At  present  many  boys  leave  school  just  at  the  beginning 
of  manhood,  the  time  when  the  wholly  animal,  unmoral 
being  is  giving  place  to  the  idealistic,  chivalrous  youth,  — 
at  the  critical  period  of  life.  The  longer  the  youth  stays 
in  the  school  the  more  probable  it  is  that  these  heroic  ideas 
will  impress  on  his  nature  the  spirit  of  manly  generosity. 
Thus  his  attitude  toward  the  home  will  be  measurably 
elevated  and  his  mind  will  find  that  other  subjects  are 
even  more  charming  than  the  sensual.  Education  is  by 
no  means  a  panacea,  but  the  more  American  youths  are 
taught,  the  better,  happier,  lives  they  will  be  enabled  to 
lead. 

In  education,  finally,  is  the  best  solution  of  the  amuse- 
ment problem.  This  education  should  take  two  forms, 
amusement  and  instruction.  By  amusement  is  meant 
social  and  literary  functions  similar  to  those  so  much 
enjoyed  in  the  settlements,  and  by  instruction  public 
lectures  upon  subjects  of  real  educational  value  such  as 
are  conducted  with  such  marked  success  in  New  York 
City  under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Leipziger.  Thus  it  is  edu- 
cation that,  combined  with  higher  incomes,  is  the  great 
mainstay  in  the  improvement  of  the  lot  of  the  industrial 
people —  "Education  for  Efficiency,"  industrial,  domestic, 
hygienic,  cultural,  moral. 

In  this  brief  sketch  a  few  of  the  important  agencies  for 


178  THE  STANDARD  (OF  LIVING 

raising  the  standard  of  living  have  been  enumerated :  — 
Unemployment  must  be  attacked  on  two  lines,  a  wise 
temporal  distribution  of  public  work  and  the  enlargement 
of  free  state  employment  bureaus,  and  the  elimination  of 
accidents  and  occupational  diseases.  Low  incomes  can  be 
raised  partly  by  the  labor  unions,  the  larger  benefit  to  the 
unskilled  being  probably  to  be  found  in  the  newer  indus- 
trial union  idea,  restriction  of  immigration  should  be  of 
some  assistance,  and  minimum  wage  boards  are  a  promis- 
ing though  comparatively  untried  tool.  The  evils  of 
housing  can  only  partly  be  alleviated  by  private  enterprise, 
but  good  thoroughly  enforced  state  tenement  house  and 
health  codes  can  be  relied  upon  to  gradually  render  the 
homes  of  the  working  people  sanitary.  The  boarder  and 
lodger  must  be  reached  by  some  active  social  or  religious 
organization;  this  work  logically  falls  upon  the  church. 
The  standards  of  nutrition  are  so  largely  dependent  upon 
incomes  that  little  can  be  accomplished  without  a  rise  in 
wages,  yet  domestic  economy  can  be  popularized  with 
beneficent  results.  The  postal  savings  banks  have  the 
opportunity  of  greatly  encouraging  thrift  especially  if  the 
school  teachers  enlist  the  interest  of  the  children.  Health 
can  be  improved  by  the  prevention  of  industrial  diseases, 
the  prohibition  of  child  labor  and  regulation  of  the  labor  of 
women,  welfare  work  similar  to  that  of  the  Metropolitan 
Life  Insurance  Company  and  the  Tuberculosis  Campaign, 
medical  inspection  in  the  schools,  and  a  shorter  working 
day  for  those  subject  to  over-fatigue.  Finally  education 
adapted  for  an  industrial  environment  is  perhaps  the  one 
most  powerful  factor  that  can  be  enlisted  in  the  cause  of 
a  higher  standard  of  living  for  the  American  working 
people. 

One  thing,  however,  must  not  be  forgotten;  the  spiritual 
side  is  the  most  important  part  of  man's  nature.  The 
church  is  awaking  to  a  deep  sympathy  with  the  laborer,  the 
workingman  respects  religion.  It  is  the  followers  of  Christ 


POSSIBILITIES  179 

who  are  slowly  but  surely  destroying  the  saloon  and  thus 
raising  productivity  of  individuals  and  the  morals  of  com- 
munities: it  is  the  followers  of  Christ  who  are  leading  in 
the  great  movements  of  the  day  to  ameliorate  the  hard 
conditions  of  industrial  life.  Without  Christianity,  greater 
physical  comfort  may  be  attained  by  the  laboring  man, 
but  there  will  be  between  employer  and  employee  an  ever 
keener  struggle  for  supremacy,  fiercer  for  each  advance 
that  is  achieved  by  the  laborer  unless  both  parties  re- 
cognize the  divine  authority  of  the  Man  who  said  "Love 
one  another  AS  i  HAVE  LOVED  YOU." 


APPENDIX 


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Salt  hog  5.4  3550 

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WORK  OF  FREE  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 
BUREAUS 

(Compiled  from  various  state  and  federal  reports.) 


Calendar  year  in    Applications  for 
which  last  fiscal         employment 

Applications  for 
help 

Situation!  secured 

State            period  closed        men 

women 

men 

women 

men 

women 

Wisconsin1 

1908 

13,134 

3,023 

13,146 

3,269 

13,133 

3,022 

Minnesota 

1908 

23,131 

14,630 

23,012 

17,537 

22,294 

14,220 

West  Virginia 

1908 

4,852 

1,005 

431 

572 

381 

461 

Washington2 

1907 

45,027 

3,723 

Missouri 

1908 

12,189 

1,770 

7,581 

2,003 

6,337 

1,089 

Montana1 

1908 

11,012 

6,383 

14,492s 

6,872 

5,116 

Connecticut 

1908 

4,938 

7,951 

2,775 

6,412 

2,565 

5,536 

Ohio 

1908 

11,909 

11,584 

7,103 

12,055 

6,592 

9,374 

Oklahoma 

1909 

3,452  » 

4,089  J 

3,250* 

Michigan 

16,065 

6,515 

16,732 

1,855 

10,396 

5,833 

Mass.,  Boston 

1907 

25,350 

9,600 

19,966 

13,731 

8,671 

5,809 

Illinois 

1905 

27,652 

11,946 

Maryland 

1904 

1,078 

234 

202 

160 

378 

151 

1  Two  years. 

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INDEX 


INDEX 


Accidents,  127. 

Accidents  and  unemployment,  40. 

Adams,  T.  S.,  wages,  60. 

Addams,  Miss  Jane,  home  tenure,  80. 

Affection,  lack  of,  in  families,  138. 

Age,  premature,  126. 

Agriculture,  unemployment  of  labor- 
ers, 38. 

Albany,  bousing  problem,  73. 

Alcohol,  effects,  147;  social  stimulus, 
146. 

Amusements,  142 ;  and  education,  177. 

Amelioration,  164 ;  summary  of  plans, 
178. 

America,  danger,  149. 

Americans,  luxury  in  clothing,  104. 

Anglo-Saxon,  clotbing  expenditure, 
104. 

Artistic  sense,  148. 

Atwater,  WO.,  criticism  of  dietaries, 
100  ;  necessary  food  cost,  87. 

Australasia,  hours  of  labor,  123. 

Australia,  condition  of  laborers,  149. 

Ayres,  Philip  W-,  ideals  of  poor,  8. 

Bacon,  A.  F.,  housing  in  Indiana,  77. 

Baker,  food  purchased  from,  99. 

Baltimore,  housing,  74 ;  unemploy- 
ment, 33. 

Banks,  savings,  111. 

Bath-rooms,  in  tenements,  71. 

Benefit  features,  Metropolitan  Life  In- 
surance Co.,  120. 

Benefits,  out  of  work,  30. 

Berlin,  City  Plan  Exhibit,  18;  death- 
rate  in  tenements,  82. 

Beveridge,  W.  H.,  theory  of  unemploy- 
ment, 36. 

Births,  130. 

Blindness,  131. 

Boarders,  78;  improvement  of  condi- 
tions, 170;  source  of  income,  67. 

Boards  of  Health  and  housing  reform, 
169. 

Bogart,  Yonkers  tenements,  76. 

Borrowing,  among  the  poor,  158. 

Boston,  amusements,  143;  housing,  74; 
lodgers,  78. 

Boys,  and  shortened  trade  life,  125. 

Bradstreet's,  estimate  of  unemploy- 
ment, 29. 

Bricklayers'  wages,  46. 


Brickmakers'  wages,  46. 

Brooklyn,  place  of  women,  138. 

Brooks,  John  G.,  progress  and  stand- 
ard of  living,  4;  unemployment,  29. 

Buffalo,  housing  problem,  73 ;  housing 
reform,  164. 

Building  and  loan  associations,  114. 

Building  trades,  unemployment,  30, 
38. 

Bullock,  Charles  J.,  definition  by,  of 
standard  of  living,  2;  the  desire  for 
companionship  as  a  want,  5. 

Bureau  of  Labor,  wage  and  price  sta- 
tistics, 48,  50. 

Burial  money,  119. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  education,  174. 

Carbohydrates,  consumption,  94;  func- 
tions, 86. 

Causes  of  unemployment,  40. 

Census,  classified  wages,  65;  unemploy- 
ment, 34;  wages,  and  wage-earners, 
50,  59,  64. 

Chapin,  Robert  Coit,  bakeries,  100; 
clothing  cost,  18,  105,  161;  housing 
standard,  168  ;  pawning,  158  ;  saving, 
25  ;  sources  of  family  income,  59 ; 
standard  of  living,  criticised,  11; 
tenements,  73 ;  thrift,  110. 

Character,  revealed  in  expenditures,  9. 

Charity,  hurtful  to  church,  151 . 

Charts,  19,  21,  23,  37,  39, 45,  47,  49,  51,  53, 
55,  57. 

Chicago,  diet  of  Italians,  89, 94 ;  hous- 
ing, 74  ;  Italians,  health,  129;  unem- 
ployment, 30;  wages  of  clothing- 
makers,  62. 

Child  labor,  52,  67, 172. 

Children,  defective,  99;  effect  on  fam- 
ily expenditures,  22;  faulty  diet,  100; 
food  cost,  90 ;  health,  132 ;  sleep  in 
tenements,  81 ;  training,  148. 

Christianity,  178. 

Church,  and  boarders  and  lodgers,  170; 
and  labor,  150. 

Cincinnati,  housing,  75;  industrial 
training,  176;  pawnbrokers'  rates, 
158. 

City  and  Suburban  Homes  Co.,  168. 

City  wages,  48. 

Civilization,  progress  and  standard  of 
living,  4. 


192 


INDEX 


Class,  conflict,  149 ;  determinant  of 
Standard  of  living,  3. 

Clothing,  chapter  on,  103 ;  cost  in  nor- 
mal families,  22  ;  functions,  103;  re- 
lation to  income,  13, 18. 

Clothing  trades,  unemployment,  30; 
wages,  62. 

Closson,  C.  C.,  unemployment,  29. 

Coal  district,  housing,  77;  miners' 
•wages,  61. 

Coffee,  99. 

Comforts,  place  in  standard  of  living, 
2. 

Commissioner  of  Labor,  accidents,  128 ; 
boarders  and  lodgers,  79 ;  food  pur- 
chases, 96;  savings,  110;  sources  of 
family  income,  58 ;  table  of  expendi- 
tures, 17. 

Committee  of  Fifty,  diet,  99. 

Compensation,  for  accidents,  128; 
workmen's,  165. 

Condition,  of  industrial  people,  163. 

Conductors'  wages,  60. 

Conference  of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tions, living  wage,  160. 

Connecticut,  child  labor,  67;  employ- 
ment bureau,  165. 

Conversation,  shop  girls',  141. 

Cooking,  importance,  88;  uneconom- 
ical, 94. 

Cost,  of  life  insurance,  118;  of  living, 
6,  26 ;  social,  of  long  hours,  124. 

Cotton  industry,  families  dependent 
on,  59. 

Croatians,  wages,  63. 

Crowell,  Miss  Elizabeth,  midwives, 
130. 

Dancing,  142. 

Dark  rooms,  71. 

Death,  rate  and  over-crowding,  82; 
rates,  133. 

Deaths,  preventable,  134. 

Debt,  installment  buying,  157. 

Defaults  in  insurance  payments,  120. 

Defective  children,  132. 

Deficits,  24, 110. 

DeForest,  Robert,  and  New  York  tene- 
ments, 72. 

De  Graffenried,  Clare,  housing,  78. 

Delicatessen,  100. 

Democratic  spirit,  lack  of,  148. 

Denmark,  hours  of  labor,  123. 

Depression,  financial  or  industrial,  and 
unemployment,  29, 165. 

Deterioration,  and  faulty  diet,  101;  and 
labor  of  women,  56. 

Dewey,  D.  R.,  Report  of,  on  wages, 
63. 

Diet,  Chicago  Italians,  94;  effect  on 


efficiency,    101;    factory   girls',    92; 

faults,  101 ;  miners',  91 ;  Southern  mill 

towns,  92;  Washington,  D.  C.,  93. 
Discontent,  149. 
Disease,  129. 
Domestic  economy,  field  for  training, 

171. 

Domestic  servant,  trade  life,  126. 
Driscoll,  Clement,  scales,  156. 
Dryden,  John  F.,  industrial  insurance. 

117. 

East  Side,  70. 

Economies,  in  diet,  100 ;  in  purchase  of 
clothing,  108. 

Education,  improvement  of,  171,  174; 
in  insurance,  117;  undemocratic, 
147. 

Efficiency,  and  alcohol,  147;  and  diet, 
101;  from  education,  176;  of  women, 
54;  with  health,  122;  with  savings, 
117. 

Emigration  and  unemployment,  40. 

Employment  bureaus,  state,  165; 
table,  187. 

Engel,  study  of  budgets,  12 ;  modified 
laws,  20. 

Euginemen,  wages,  60. 

England,  wage  boards,  167. 

Etiquette,  social,  143. 

Europe,  accidents  in  industry  and  de- 
pendence, 128 ;  and  restriction  of  im- 
migration, 166. 

Eviction  and  tenement  house  reform, 
169. 

Exhaustion  of  tenement  dwellers,  81. 

Expenditures,  charts,  19,  21,  23;  cloth- 
ing, 104 ;  Engel's  table,  12 ;  entrusted 
to  wife,  140 ;  family,  9 ;  food,  89,  95 ; 
health,  122  ;  income,  15  ;  installment 
plan,  157 ;  insurance,  116;  proportion- 
ate, 20,  26;  workingmen's  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 13. 

Factories,  exodus  to  small  cities,  170. 

Families,  expense  for  clothing,  104; 
normal,  denned,  11 ;  normal,  expend- 
itures of,  22 ;  sources  of  income,  52  ; 
tenement  house,  70. 

Fatigue,  poisons,  123. 

Fats,  functions,  86. 

Firemen,  wages,  60. 

Fisher,  Irving,  food,  86. 

Food,  Atwater's  criticisms,  101;  chap- 
ter on,  86 ;  consumption,  tables,  186 ; 
cost  in  relation  to  income,  14 ;  econ- 
omies in,  100;  expenditures  for,  22, 
87, 95 ;  extravagance,  100 ;  social  stim- 
ulus, 86;  standards  of  diet,  87; 
gufliciency  for  nourishment,  97;  val- 


INDEX 


193 


ues  of  food  stuffs,  185;  values  pur- 
chasable for  ten  cents,  188. 

Forman,  S.  E.,  food  cost  in  Washing- 
ton, 89  ;  dietaries,  93,  99 ;  rents  in 
Washington,  155. 

Frankel,  Lee  K.,  Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Cost  of  Living,  11. 

Free  lunch,  89,  146. 

French  peasants,  149. 

Friendly  visitors,  171. 

Fuel,  consumption  of  foods  for,  98. 

Generosity  of  the  poor,  140. 

Georgia,  child  labor,  67 ;  textile  wages, 
63. 

Girls,  thoughts  of  working,  137. 

Glass  industry,  families  dependent  on, 
59;  trade  life  in,  125;  unemployment, 
38. 

Gompers,  Samuel,  living  wage,  159. 

Goodyear,  Miss  Caroline,  clothing,  106; 
disease,  129. 

Gould,  E.  R.  L.,  homes,  80;  housing 
reform,  169 ;  tenements  and  the  sa- 
loon, 82. 

Government,  and  unemployment,  164. 

Great  Britain,  hours  of  labor,  123. 

Hanger,  G.  W.  W.,  building  and  loan 
associations,  114;  cost  of  living,  10; 
housing,  167. 

Health,  chapter  on,  121;  and  clothing, 
106;  definition,  122;  dependence  on 
food,  86. 

Hewlett,  Maurice,  140. 

Hoffman,  F.  L.,  deaths,  134;  indus- 
trial accidents,  127. 

Homes,  labor  of  women  in,  54;  pur- 
chase of,  lit;  standard  of  living,  6; 
tenure  of,  79. 

Hours  of  labor,  course  of,  50;  health, 
123;  reduction  of,  173. 

Housing,  chapter  on,  69;  in  Southern 
mill  towns,  77;  reform,  167;  strength 
of  want,  69. 

Hungarians,  food  cost,  89 ;  wages,  63. 

Hunter,  Robert,  home  tenure,  79. 

Huxley,  East  End,  83. 

Hygiene,  education,  176. 

Ignorance  in  food  selection,  94, 102. 
Illinois,  unemployment,  33;  wages,  48, 

61. 
Immigration,    and    employment,   40; 

and  wages,  62, 166. 
Incomes,  chapter  on,  44;  classified,  68; 

determinant  of  standard  of  living, 

3;  insufficient,  24, 162;  sources,  57. 
Indiana,  housing,  77;  unemployment, 

33;  wages,  66. 


j  Industrial  accidents,  127. 
Industrial  Commission,  hours  of  labor, 

174. 

Industrial  education,  175. 
Industrial  insurance,  116. 
Industrial  people,  condition  of,  163. 
Industrial  unions,  166. 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  149. 
Inebriety  and  unemployment,  40. 
Installment  buying,  157. 
Insurance,  form  of  saving,  115. 
Intellectual  life,  136. 
Interest  rates  to  poor,  158. 
Interstate     Commerce     Commission, 

wages,  67. 
Iowa,    bureau    of    Labor    Statistics, 

clothing,  105, 162. 
Irregularity  of  work,  124. 
Italians,  diet  of,  89,  94 ;  superstitions 

of,  148;  unemployment  of,  30;  wages 

of,  62. 

James,  A.  E.,  wage  statistics,  63. 
Jersey  City,  tenements,  73. 

Kansas,  unemployment,  33,  42. 
Kindliness  of  poor,  140. 
Knopf,  8.  A.,  clothing,  108. 

Labor  and  the  church,  150;  earnings, 

68;  organized,  30,  62;  women,  52. 
Laborers,  opinions  of,  148;  sensuality 

of,  137. 

Law,  housing,  72,  76,  169. 
Leipziger,  Henry  M.,  177. 
Lennox,  Miss  Elizabeth,  budgets,  9. 
Le  Play,  family  monographs,  12. 
Levasseur,  Emile,  food,  89. 
Liquors,  consumption  of,  144. 
Lithuanians,  62. 
Little  Palermo,  75. 
Living  wage,  154, 159,  161. 
Lodgers,  78;  amelioration  of  lot  of,  170; 

as  sources  of  income,  67. 
Lodging  houses,  evils  of,  84. 
London,  dockyards,  127. 
Los  Angeles,  Sonoratown,  75. 
Losses  of  the  poor,  154. 
Loss,  from  disease,  131. 
Luxuries,  in  standard  of  living,  2;  in 

food,  100. 

Machinery  and  unemployment,  40;  and 
wages,  46. 

Mackay,  112. 

Maine,  wages,  60,  62,  68. 

Malnutrition,  94. 

Manhattan,  home  tenure,  79;  tene- 
ments, 70. 

Manual  training,  176. 


194 


INDEX 


Manufactures,  classified  earnings,  64. 

Marriages,  hasty,  139 ;  prospective  ef- 
fect of,  on  wages,  54. 

Massachusetts,  classified  wages,  53, 
65, 184  ;  family  expenditures,  13;  food 
cost,  89;  hours  of  labor  in,  125;  rela- 
tion of  prosperity  to  wages  in,  45; 
report  on  Southern  mill  operatives, 
92;  secondary  occupation,  68;  textile 
wages,  63,  variation  of  employment, 
37. 

Medical  attention,  132. 

Men,  as  sources  of  income,  57. 

Methodists  and  laborers,  151. 

Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company, 
120 ;  welfare  work  of,  172. 

Michigan,  accidents  in,  127;  state  em- 
ployment bureau,  165 ;  wages,  61. 

Middletown,  living  wage,  160. 

Midwives,  New  York,  130. 

Milliners,  unemployment  of,  38. 

Milwaukee,  tenements  of,  75. 

Miners,  dietaries,  91;  unemployment, 
34;  wages,  61. 

Minimum  wage  boards,  167. 

Minnesota,  wages,  60. 

Mitchell,  John,  housing  standard,  168 ; 
living  wage,  6, 160. 

Montana,  wages,  59. 

Moody,  Dwight  L.,  150. 

Morality,  in  thought,  136;  and  cloth- 
ing, 107;  and  education,  177;  and  in- 
stallment buying,  157. 

Morals  and  insurance,  116;  in  the  tene- 
ments, 72,  83. 

More,  Mrs.  Louise  B.,  clothing,  104; 
deficits  and  surpluses,  25;  Family 
Budgets,  15;  "Wage-Earners'  Budg- 
ets," 9. 

Morrill,  M.  D.,  houses,  168. 

Mortgages,  2,  79. 

National  Consumers'  League,  167, 172. 

Newark,  insurances  policies  in,  117. 

New  Britain,  immigration,  166. 

New  England,  city  churches,  150; 
track-hands,  60. 

New  Hampshire,  wages,  63. 

New  Jersey,  classified  wages,  53,  65, 
183 ;  tenement  house  law,  169 ;  varia- 
tion of  employment,  39. 

New  Orleans,  housing,  75. 

Newsholm,  accidents,  127. 

New  York  City,  abnormal  conditions, 
18 ;  bakeries,  100;  clothing  expendi- 
tures, 104  ;  disease,  121,  129;  housing 
reform,  168 ;  insurance,  116 ;  lodgers, 
78 ;  unemployment,  29 ;  women,  138. 

New  York  State,  Bureau  of  Labor, 
health,  123;  hours  of  labor,  173;  Con- 


ference of  Charities  and  Correc- 
tions, on  cost  of  living,  6, 11 ;  tene- 
ment house  code,  169;  unemploy- 
ment, 30,  42 ;  wages,  62. 

Nickelodeons,  143. 

Normal  families,  denned,  11 ;  expendi- 
tures, 22;  for  food,  90. 

North  Carolina,  wages,  60, 63. 

North  Dakota,  wages,  60. 

Nurses,  visiting,  171. 

Nutrition,  improvement  of,  171 ;  in 
New  York,  95;  of  school-children, 
132  ;  standards  of,  87 ;  table  showing 
diet,  97 ;  under-nutrition,  98. 

Nutritive  value  of  foods,  185, 186,  188. 

Occupations,  class  standard  of  living, 
3 ;  death  rates  in,  133 ;  secondary, 
36. 

Ohio,  miners'  wages,  61. 

Opinions  of  labor,  148. 

Optimism  of  poor,  158. 

Organized  labor,  unemployment,  30; 
wages,  46. 

Overcapitalization  and  unemploy- 
ment, 43. 

Overcrowding,  Pittsburg,  76 ;  in  tene- 
ments, 73. 

Owen,  Robert,  124. 

Padrone,  immigrants'  wages,  63. 

Paint  compounder,  wages  of,  46. 

Painter,  wages  of,  46. 

Pauper  burials,  117. 

Pauperism  and  alcohol,  147;  and  unem- 
ployment, 42. 

Pawning,  158. 

Peasants,  Russian,  175. 

Pennsylvania,  amusements  of  miners 
of,  143 ;  cost  of  clothing  in  coal-fields 
of,  104;  interest  rates,  158;  labor  of 
women  and  children,  56;  wages,  61, 
63. 

Philadelphia,  building  and  loan  asso- 
ciations, 115;  housing  problem,  74; 
housing  reform,  168;  unemployment 
in,  33. 

Pickles,  in  diet,  92. 

Pittsburg,  dietaries,  91;  drinking  in, 
144;  housing,  75;  lodgers,  78;  thrift, 
110;  unemployment,  29;  wages,  42, 62. 

Platonic  friendship,  136. 

Plumbing,  disordered,  71. 

Pneumonia,  and  insufficient  clothing, 
106. 

Poles,  wages,  62, 166. 

Poor,  losses  of,  155. 

Population  per  saloon,  145 ;  and  stand- 
ard of  living,  7. 

Portland,  housing,  74. 


INDEX 


195 


Possibilities,  163. 

Postal  savings  banks,  172. 

Poverty,  and  disease,  131. 

Presbyterians,  151. 

Prices  of  food,  50. 

Privacy,  impossible  in  tenements,  72. 

Property,  ownership  of,  83. 

Prosperity,    and    savings,    111;    and 

wages,  48. 

Prostitution,  in  tenements,  72. 
Proteids,  functions,  86;  lack  of,  in  diet, 

96. 

Protestants  and  labor,  150. 
Public  work,  distribution  of,  165. 

Rae,  John,  hours  of  labor,  124, 173. 

Railroads,  accidents,  127;  wages,  60. 

Reading  of  poor,  141. 

Real  wages,  48. 

Recreation,  141. 

Religion,  152. 

Rents,  18, 154;  and  incomes,  13,  24;  in 

tenements,  71. 

Restriction  of  immigration,  167. 
Ricardo,  David,  175. 
Richards,  Mrs.  Ellen  H.,  clothing,  103. 
Rickets,  94. 
Risk,  and  wages,  46. 
Roberts,  Peter,  clothing,  104 ;  labor  of 

children   and    women,   56;  miners' 

dietaries,  91,  99;  wages  of  miners,  61; 

woman,  139. 
Rochester,  housing,  73. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  home  life,  6. 
Ross,  E.  A.,  home  tenure,  83. 
Ryan,  John  A.,  home  life,  6;  incomes, 

67 ;  living  wage,  160. 

St.  Paul,  68. 

Saloon,  142;    connection  with  faulty 

diet,  99 ;  free  lunch,  89 ;  functions, 

145. 

San  Francisco,  housing  reform,  170. 
Sanitorium,  173. 
Savings  banks,  111,  172. 
Schoenberg,  rents,  18. 
Schools,  147 ;  reform  of,  175. 
Seasonal  industries,  38. 
Secondary  occupations,  36. 
Section  foremen,  wages,  61. 
Secularization  of  church,  151. 
Settlements,  171. 
Sex,  in   mental  life,   136;  effect  on 

wages,  54. 

Shaf tesbury,  Earl  of,  81. 
Shanties,  74. 
Sickness,  40, 121. 
Skill  and  wages,  50. 
Slavs,    dances  of,  142  ;  food,  89,  91 ; 

wages,  63. 


Sleep,  in  clothing,  108;  in  tenements, 

81. 

Slums,  origin  of,  73. 
Small,  A.  W.,  6. 
Smart,  W.  A.,  1,  2,  99. 
Social  and  intellectual  life,  136. 
Social  functions  of  housing,  69. 
Social  life  and  saloon,  146. 
Social  position  and  wages,  46. 
Sonoratown,  75. 
South  Carolina,  company  housing,  168; 

textile  wages,  63. 
Standard  of  dress,  perverted,  107 ;  of 

food,  88;  of  housing,  168. 
Standard  of  living,  1;  cost  of,  25;  de- 
nned, 2  ;  non-competing  groups,  46 ; 
relation  to  savings,  113. 
Sterility,  134. 
Stimulants,  and  diet,  99;  and  fatigue, 

123. 

Strikes,  and  unemployment,  40. 
Sumner,  H.  L.,  wages,  60. 
Superstition,  148. 
Surplus,  24,  110. 
Sweets,  92,  99. 

Syracuse,  home  baking,  100 ;  housing 
problem,  73. 

Taylor,  Graham,  unemployment,  29. 

Tea,  place  of,  in  dietary,  99. 

Tenement  house,  70,  81,  129,  167. 

Textiles,  diet  of  operatives,  93;  wages, 
63. 

Theatres,  143. 

Theory  of  savings,  112. 

Thrift,  110;  encouragement  of,  172. 

Tilden,  Horace,  107. 

Trade  life,  125. 

Trainmen,  wages,  61. 

Troy,  housing  problem,  73. 

Tuberculosis,  130. 

Tucker,  Frank,  definition  by,  of  stand- 
ard of  living,  2. 

Underbill,  Frank  P.,  food  cost,  87. 

Under-fed  families,  90. 

Under-nutrition,  extent,  98. 

Unemployment,  29;  accidents,  128; 
causes,  36;  disease,  131;  effects  of, 
42;  labor  loss  from,  35;  remedies  for, 
164. 

United  States,  building  and  loan  asso- 
ciations, 114;  hours  of  labor,  123;  in- 
surance in,  117. 

Unrest,  149. 

Unskilled  labor,  unemployment,  40. 

Unions,  broken  by  depression,  43;  in- 
surance, 120;  mental  and  social  life, 
144;  wages,  166. 

Variation  of  employment,  seasonal,  37. 


196 


INDEX 


Van  Vorst,  Mrs.  John,  food,  100;  edu- 
cation, 9;  factory  workers,  91. 

Van  Vorst,  Miss  Marie,  clothing,  108 ; 
dietaries,  93;  health,  129;  hours  of 
labor,  124;  housing,  77. 

Veiller,  Lawrence,  tenements,  72,  83. 

Venereal  disease,  131. 

Vice,  result  of  unemployment,  43. 

Victoria,  wage  boards,  167, 

Wage-Earners'  Budgets,  9. 

Wage,  living,  154. 

Wages,  7,  166,  44;  classified,  183. 

Wants,  and  savings,  113 ;  satisfaction, 
27 ;  scale  of,  1 ;  strength  of  subsist- 
ence, 26. 

Warner,  Amos  G.,  unemployment,  38 ; 
sensuality,  137. 

Waste  of  human  labor,  126. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  employment  bu- 
reau in,  165;  housing,  75,  168;  food 
cost,  89;  rents,  155. 

Washington  Sanitary  Improvement 
Co.,  168. 


Water  in  tenements,  72,  76. 

Weather,  and  unemployment,  40. 

Welfare  work,  172. 

Wisconsin,  employment  bureau,  166; 
food  cost,  89;  labor  of  women,  56; 
wages,  60. 

Wives,  purchase  theory,  138;  wage- 
earning,  58. 

Women,  health,  130;  position,  140; 
routines,  139;  working,  52. 

Woolen  industry,  58. 

Working-girls  clubs,  78. 

Workingmen,  oversensitiveness,  151. 

Workmen's  compensation,  165. 

Wright,  Carroll  D.,  cost  of  living,  10; 
tenements,  82. 

Yonkers,  tenements,  76. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociation, 170;  as  lodging  houses, 
78. 


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